Samuel Bernstein
Encyclopedia
Samuel Bernstein is an award winning screenwriter, director and author (born 1970) who grew up all over the world, living in Cairo
, Honolulu, Austin
, Phoenix
, Albuquerque, New York City
, Los Angeles
, and Ft. Collins, Colorado, while his family also traveled through Asia
, Africa
, Europe
, and the Caribbean
. The dramatic events of his emotionally volatile upbringing are explored in "Kill Your Inner Child," his multimedia memoir from the Hearst Corporation
.
, moving to New York at the age of 17. After studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
he began to work as an actor and singer, most notably playing the role of “Magaldi” in various productions of Evita. In the early 90s he started writing, and his first play, “The Liquidation of Granny Peterman,” was produced in Hollywood. The Los Angeles Times said, "Samuel Bernstein's insights into what keeps families together are as rich as a holiday pudding."
While writing and rewriting the script that would become his first film, “Silent Lies,” he worked on his first book, a photo-anthology called “Uncommon Heroes” that won a Stonewall Book Award
from the American Library Association
in 1996. Bernstein and his partner on the project, Phillip Sherman, tied with writer Dorothy Allison
. His book about the rise and fall of Confidential (magazine)
in the 1950s, "Mr. Confidential" was published by Walford Press in 2007 and Liz Smith proclaimed that, "It reads like a house afire in a sultry swamp!"
Silent Lies
, a dark, violent film about incest, opened at The Montreal World Film Festival
in 1996. Though press materials for the film said otherwise, Bernstein was often referred to in newspaper articles about the movie as an “incest survivor“ which with his typical sense of black humor, he started finding rather funny.
Among his many other film and television projects, his favorite is Bobbie's Girl
which starred Bernadette Peters
, Rachel Ward
, and Jonathan Silverman
, and marked the film debut of Thomas Sangster
, the young actor who would go on to star in Love, Actually and Nanny McPhee
among his many other films. Bernadette Peters received an Emmy nomination while the film received a Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
nomination and a citation from The Advocate
as one of the top ten television events of the year.
He lives in West Hollywood, California
with his husband Ronald Shore. They have been together since 1994 and were married in Vancouver
when same-sex marriage
became legal there in 2003.
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Honolulu, Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, Albuquerque, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and Ft. Collins, Colorado, while his family also traveled through Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. The dramatic events of his emotionally volatile upbringing are explored in "Kill Your Inner Child," his multimedia memoir from the Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
.
Biography
Bernstein dove into show business immediately upon graduating high school a year early in TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, moving to New York at the age of 17. After studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
The American Academy of Dramatic Arts is a fully accredited two-year conservatory with facilities located in Manhattan, New York City – at 120 Madison Avenue, in a landmark building designed by noted architect Stanford White as the original Colony Club – and in Hollywood, California...
he began to work as an actor and singer, most notably playing the role of “Magaldi” in various productions of Evita. In the early 90s he started writing, and his first play, “The Liquidation of Granny Peterman,” was produced in Hollywood. The Los Angeles Times said, "Samuel Bernstein's insights into what keeps families together are as rich as a holiday pudding."
While writing and rewriting the script that would become his first film, “Silent Lies,” he worked on his first book, a photo-anthology called “Uncommon Heroes” that won a Stonewall Book Award
Stonewall Book Award
Sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association , the Stonewall Book Award is for LGBT books...
from the American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
in 1996. Bernstein and his partner on the project, Phillip Sherman, tied with writer Dorothy Allison
Dorothy Allison
Dorothy Allison is an American writer, speaker, and member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.-Early life:Dorothy E. Allison was born on April 11, 1949 in Greenville, South Carolina to Ruth Gibson Allison, who was fifteen at the time. Ruth was a poor and unmarried mother who worked as a...
. His book about the rise and fall of Confidential (magazine)
Confidential (magazine)
Confidential was a periodical published quarterly from December 1952 to August 1953, and then bi-monthly until 1978. It was founded by Robert Harrison and is considered a pioneer in scandal, gossip, and exposé journalism. Newsweek said it featured "sin and sex with a seasoning of right wing...
in the 1950s, "Mr. Confidential" was published by Walford Press in 2007 and Liz Smith proclaimed that, "It reads like a house afire in a sultry swamp!"
Silent Lies
Silent Lies
-Plot summary:In this earnest, unflinching drama, sisters played by Elizabeth Anne Allen and Dana Daurey unite in the face of their father's constant abuse. The story unfolds in a small Texas town as Shelley's senior year in high school draws to a close...
, a dark, violent film about incest, opened at The Montreal World Film Festival
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival , founded in 1977, is one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF...
in 1996. Though press materials for the film said otherwise, Bernstein was often referred to in newspaper articles about the movie as an “incest survivor“ which with his typical sense of black humor, he started finding rather funny.
Among his many other film and television projects, his favorite is Bobbie's Girl
Bobbie's Girl
Bobbie's Girl is a 2002 comedy-drama television movie about two women leading a comfortable, quiet life running a pub in Dublin who are suddenly confronted with a series of health and family crises...
which starred Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
, Rachel Ward
Rachel Ward
Rachel Claire Ward, AM is a British actress, columnist, film director, and screenwriter who has primarily pursued her career in Australia.-Early life:...
, and Jonathan Silverman
Jonathan Silverman
-Personal life:Silverman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Devora and Hillel Emanuel Silverman, a rabbi. He is the grandson of famous Conservative Rabbi Morris Silverman. David Schwimmer was his best friend in high school. He is married to actress Jennifer Finnigan who he briefly co...
, and marked the film debut of Thomas Sangster
Thomas Sangster
Thomas Brodie Sangster is an English film and television actor, best known for his roles in Love Actually, Nanny McPhee, The Last Legion, and voice of Ferb Fletcher in Phineas and Ferb.-Personal life:...
, the young actor who would go on to star in Love, Actually and Nanny McPhee
Nanny McPhee
Nanny McPhee is a 2005 fantasy film starring Emma Thompson and Colin Firth. Thompson also wrote the screenplay, which is adapted from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books.-Plot:...
among his many other films. Bernadette Peters received an Emmy nomination while the film received a Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is a non-governmental media monitoring organization which promotes the image of LGBT people in the media...
nomination and a citation from The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
as one of the top ten television events of the year.
He lives in West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
with his husband Ronald Shore. They have been together since 1994 and were married in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
when same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
became legal there in 2003.
Filmography
- Silent LiesSilent Lies-Plot summary:In this earnest, unflinching drama, sisters played by Elizabeth Anne Allen and Dana Daurey unite in the face of their father's constant abuse. The story unfolds in a small Texas town as Shelley's senior year in high school draws to a close...
(1996) - Icing on the Cake (2000)
- Sally B. (2001)
- Bobbie's GirlBobbie's GirlBobbie's Girl is a 2002 comedy-drama television movie about two women leading a comfortable, quiet life running a pub in Dublin who are suddenly confronted with a series of health and family crises...
(2002) - Judging AmyJudging AmyJudging Amy is an American television drama that was telecast from September 19, 1999, through May 3, 2005, on CBS-TV. This TV series starred Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly...
(2004) - W.i.t.c.h.W.I.T.C.H.W.I.T.C.H. is an Italian fantasy/Magical girl comic series created by Elisabetta Gnone, Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa. It tells the story of five teenage girls who are chosen to be the new Guardians of Kandrakar, protectors of the center of the universe from people and creatures who wish...
(2005) - Kill Your Inner Child (2007)