William Monahan

American award-winning screenwriter and novelist, Monahan won an Oscar on February 25, 2007 for his work on Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" (released in 2006). His film screenplays include "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005) and "Body of Lies" (2008). In June 2000 he published his first book, "Light House: A Trifle" and a year later produced a serialized book under a pseudonym of Claude La Badarian. The book was entitled, aptly enough, "Dining Late with Claude La Badarian."

Monahan grew up in a working class neighborhood and in an Irish Catholic family. His parents divorced when he was six but he remained close to both. His father was a great reader and the literary influence rubbed off on young William who claims he wrote his first screenplay at 12. After graduation from the University of Massachusetts he moved to New York City where he landed free-lance writing assignments and became an editor for Spy magazine. In 1997 he won a Pushcart Prize for short fiction. He was able to sell his novel to Warner Brothers and Monahan was hired to write the screenplay. In 2001 he came to the attention of director Ridley Scott, a contact that led him to be hired for "Kingdom of Heaven." The movie bombed but his reputation was established. One producer, George Nolfi, said of him: "``Bill is probably the best writer working in Hollywood today at creating a sense of time and place in the past. `And he writes some of the best dialogue I've ever read."

Monahan and his wife married in 2001 and they have two children.