Samuel Bernstein

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Screenwriter, director and author Samuel Bernstein grew up all over the world, living in Cairo, Honolulu, Austin, Phoenix, Albuquerque, New York, 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 can be explored at www.killyourinnerchild.com; a blog and multimedia project that Hearst Entertainment is creating.

Bernstein dove into show business immediately upon graduating high school a year early in Texas, 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.

“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.

His film “Bobbie's Girl” 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 G.L.A.A.D. 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 of 12 years, Ronald Shore.