Stephen Gaghan
Stephen Gaghan is an American screenwriter and film director known for Traffic, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also wrote and directed Syriana, and wrote and directed Abandon; he directed the drama Gold and wrote the family film Dolittle. His other writing credits include Rules of Engagement, Havoc, and The Alamo, and he won an Emmy for co-writing the NYPD Blue episode "Where's Swaldo" in 1997.
Gaghan was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 6, 1965. He studied at Babson College, earning a BA in screenwriting after attending the University of Kentucky and participating in a Semester at Sea program. He has spoken about his past drug addiction, which he began addressing in 1997.
He is married to Minnie Mortimer since May 19, 2007, and they have four children together. He also has two older children from a previous relationship with actress Michael McCraine: Gardner (b. 1999) and Betsy (Elizabeth, b. 2001).
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:19 (CET).