Barry Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American filmmaker. He has received numerous accolades including the Academy Award for Best Director for Rain Man (1988), as well as four Primetime Emmy Awards and nominations for three Golden Globe Awards. Levinson's other best-known works are Diner (1982), The Natural (1984), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Bugsy (1991), and Wag the Dog (1997). In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries Dopesick and directed the first two episodes.
Early life Levinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Violet "Vi" (née Krichinsky) and Irvin Levinson, who worked in the furniture and appliance business.Henderson, Randi (September 28, 1990). "The Roots of the Story: Barry Levinson's 'Avalon' Describes His Family's Coming to America; Levinson Didn't Have Far to Look for Stories for His 'Avalon' Script". The Baltimore Sun. pp. 1, 5. Retrieved March 26, 2025. "The Krichinskys settled in Baltimore, where the brothers did well with a wallpaper business. They married and had children. Sam had a daughter named Violet, and Violet, who married Irvin Levinson, had a son named Barry." He is of Russian-Jewish descent. After growing up in Forest Park, Baltimore and graduating from Forest Park Senior High School in 1960, Levinson studied broadcast journalism at Baltimore Junior College and American University in Washington, D.C.Levinson, Barry; Kornbluth, Jesse (1990). Avalon; Tin Men; Diner: Three Screenplays. New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press. pp. XI-XII. . "As a young man, Levinson was 460th in a class of 460. 'I was a terrible student'. [...] Levinson wasn't indolent, merely busy elsewhere. His base of operations at Forest Park High School was the Hilltop Diner, with forays to Colts and Orioles games, and, on weekends, the movies. [...] After graduation, he enrolled at Baltimore Junior College. [...] He dropped out after five months, and, for a while, sold used cars. This was far from satisfying work, so he decided to do the right thing—that is, become a well-paid tax lawyer. Legal studies were also a disaster, and he re-enrolled at Baltimore Junior College, where broadcast journalism actually engaged him sufficiently to lure him on to American University in Washington." He later moved to Los Angeles to work as an actor and writer and performed comedy routines. Levinson at one time shared an apartment with would-be drug smuggler (and subject of the movie Blow) George Jung.
Career Levinson's first writing work was for television variety shows such as The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, The Lohman and Barkley Show, The Tim Conway Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. He moved on to success as a film screenwriter – notably the Mel Brooks comedies Silent Movie (1976) and High Anxiety (1977) (in which he played a bellboy) and the Oscar-nominated script (co-written by Valerie Curtin) for ...And Justice for All (1979). He was an uncredited co-writer on Dustin Hoffman's 1982 hit comedy Tootsie.
Levinson began his career as a film director with Diner (1982), for which he also wrote the script, which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Diner was the first of four films set in the Baltimore of Levinson's youth. The other three were Tin Men (1987), a story of aluminum-siding salesmen in the 1960s starring Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito; the immigrant family saga Avalon (1990) featuring Elijah Wood in one of his earliest screen appearances; and Liberty Heights (1999).
His biggest hit, both critically and financially, was Rain Man (1988), a sibling drama starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise in which Levinson appeared as a doctor in a cameo appearance. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. It also won the Golden Bear at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.
Levinson directed the popular period baseball drama The Natural (1984), starring Robert Redford. Redford later directed Quiz Show (1994), and he cast Levinson as television personality Dave Garroway. Levinson also directed the classic war comedy Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), starring Robin Williams (as Adrian Cronauer), and he later collaborated with Williams on the fantasy film Toys (1992) and the political comedy Man of the Year (2006). Levinson also directed the critically acclaimed historical crime drama Bugsy (1991), which starred Warren Beatty and which was nominated for ten Academy Awards.
He directed Dustin Hoffman again in Wag the Dog (1997), a political satire co-starring Robert De Niro about a Presidential election swayed by a phony war staged on a film studio. The film won the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival.
Levinson partnered with producer Mark Johnson to form the film production company Baltimore Pictures, with 1990's Avalon as the company's first production. Johnson departed the firm in 1994. Levinson has been a producer or executive producer for such major productions as The Perfect Storm (2000), directed by Wolfgang Petersen; Analyze That (2002), starring De Niro as a neurotic mob boss and Billy Crystal as his therapist; and Possession (2002), based on the best-selling novel by A. S. Byatt.
Levinson has a television production company with Tom Fontana (The Levinson/Fontana Company) and has served as executive producer for a number of series, including Homicide: Life on the Street (which ran on NBC from 1993 to 1999) and the HBO prison drama Oz. Levinson also played an uncredited main role as a judge in the short-lived TV series The Jury.
Levinson published his first novel, Sixty-Six (), in 2003, and like several of his films, it is semi-autobiographical and set in Baltimore in the 1960s. In 2004, he directed two webisodes of the American Express ads "The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman." In 2004, he was also the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award. Levinson directed a documentary PoliWood about the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions: the documentary—produced by Tim Daly, Robin Bronk and Robert E. Baruc—had its premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.
In 2011, Levinson developed a film based on Whitey Bulger, the Boston crime boss. The resulting film, Black Mass (script by Jim Sheridan, Jez Butterworth, and Russell Gewirtz), is based on the book by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, and it is said to be the "true story of Billy Bulger, Whitey Bulger, FBI agent John Connelly and the FBI's witness protection program created by J. Edgar Hoover." Levinson later left the project.
Levinson finished production on The Humbling (2014), starring Al Pacino. Levinson also directed Rock the Kasbah (2015), starring Bill Murray.
In 2010, Levinson received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement, which is the lifetime achievement award from the Writers Guild of America.
In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries Dopesick and directed the first two episodes.
Unrealized projects
Filmography
+Directed features Year Title Distribution1982Diner Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer1984The Natural Tri-Star Pictures1985Young Sherlock Holmes Paramount Pictures1987Tin MenBuena Vista DistributionGood Morning, Vietnam1988Rain ManUnited Artists1990AvalonTri-Star Pictures1991Bugsy1992Toys20th Century Fox1994Jimmy HollywoodParamount PicturesDisclosureWarner Bros.1996SleepersWarner Bros. / PolyGram Filmed Entertainment1997Wag the Dog New Line Cinema1998SphereWarner Bros.1999Liberty Heights2000An Everlasting PieceDreamWorks Pictures / Sony Pictures Releasing2001BanditsMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer / 20th Century Fox2004EnvyDreamWorks Pictures / Sony Pictures Releasing2006Man of the YearUniversal Pictures2008What Just HappenedMagnolia Pictures2012The BayLionsgate / Roadside Attractions2014The HumblingMillennium Films2015Rock the KasbahOpen Road Films2025The Alto Knights Warner Bros. Pictures
Awards and nominations
Year Title Academy Awards BAFTA Awards Golden Globe Awards Nominations Wins Nominations Wins Nominations Wins1982Diner111984The Natural411985Young Sherlock Holmes11987Good Morning, Vietnam12111988Rain Man843421990Avalon431991Bugsy102811992Toys21996Sleepers11997Wag the Dog2132001Bandits2Total34660234
Directed Academy Award performances Under Levinson's direction, these actors have received Academy Award nominations (and one win) for their performances in their respective roles. Year Performer Film Result Academy Award for Best Actor 1988 Robin Williams Good Morning, Vietnam 1989 Dustin Hoffman Rain Man 1992 Warren Beatty Bugsy 1998 Dustin Hoffman Wag the Dog Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 1992 Harvey Keitel Bugsy Ben Kingsley Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 1985 Glenn Close The Natural
References
External links
Barry Levinson on Charlie Rose (March 24, 1994)