Personal life

LaGravenese was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a taxi driver. He is of Italian descent. He graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1980 with a bachelor of fine arts degree in acting.

Career

LaGravenese wrote The Fisher King on spec in the late 1980s. It was acquired by Stacey Sher, Lynda Obst, Debra Hill's production company and subsequently directed by Terry Gilliam.

In New York City during the early 1980s, billed as "The Double R" comedy duo, in collaboration with playwright Richard O’Donnell, LaGravenese co-penned and consecutively performed in several Off-Off-Broadway productions including Spare Parts, Blood-brothers" at The 78th Street Theatre Lab, The Lion Theatre, and West Bank Cafe.

Awards

LaGravenese was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Fisher King.

In 2002, LaGravenese was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Director	Screenwriter	Notes
1989	Rude Awakening		Yes	Directed by David Greenwalt and Aaron Russo
1991	The Fisher King		Yes	Directed by Terry Gilliam
1994	The Ref		Yes	Directed by Ted Demme
1995	A Little Princess		Yes	Directed by Alfonso Cuaron
1995	The Bridges of Madison County		Yes	Directed by Clint Eastwood
1995	Unstrung Heroes		Yes	Directed by Diane Keaton
1996	The Mirror Has Two Faces		Yes	Directed by Barbra Streisand
1998	The Horse Whisperer		Yes	Directed by Robert Redford
1998	Living Out Loud	Yes	Yes
1998	Beloved		Yes	Directed by Jonathan Demme
2006	Paris, Je T'aime segment Pigalle		Yes
2007	Freedom Writers	Yes	Yes
2007	P.S. I Love You	Yes	Yes
2010	Conviction		Yes	Directed by Tony Goldwyn
2011	Water for Elephants		Yes	Directed by Francis Lawrence
2013	Beautiful Creatures	Yes	Yes
2013	Behind the Candelabra		Yes	Directed by Steven Soderbergh
2014	The Last 5 Years	Yes	Yes
2014	Unbroken		Yes	Co-written with the Coen Brothers and William Nicholson Directed by Angelina Jolie
2017	The Comedian		Yes

Television

He is the creator of The Divide and wrote all but one episode.

Announced projects

• In 2009, Showtime was developing an hour-long TV drama series written by LaGravenese about an open marriage.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]