Simon Kinberg

Simon Kinberg
Kinberg at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International
Born	Simon David Kinberg (1973-08-02) August 2, 1973 (age 43) London, England, United Kingdom
Alma mater	Brown University Columbia University School of the Arts
Occupation	Screenwriter, film producer
Spouse(s)	Mali Heled (m. 2001)
Children	2

Simon David Kinberg (born August 2, 1973) is a British-born American screenwriter and film producer. He is best known for his work on the X-Men film franchise, and has also written such films as Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Sherlock Holmes. He has served as a producer on others including Cinderella, and The Martian, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. His production company is Genre Films (also credited as Kinberg Genre), which has a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox.

Kinberg was born in London, England, the son of Monica Menell-Kinberg and Jud Kinberg, a New York City-born writer and producer. His father's first wife was French actress Suzanne Dalbert. From age six, he was raised in Los Angeles, California. He is Jewish. Kinberg graduated from Brentwood High School, and then from Brown University, Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude; in 2003 received his MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts, where he won the Zaki Gordon Fellowship for Screenwriting.

While still in film school, Kinberg sold a pitch to Warner Brothers, then went on to write scripts for Disney, Sony, and DreamWorks, working with Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer, among others. After finishing school, Kinberg moved to Hollywood, where his first screenwriting credit was a sequel to the hit action film XXX (2002), XXX: State of the Union (2005). His next screenwriting venture was the screenplay for Mr. & Mrs. Smith, directed by Doug Liman and starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The script began as Kinberg's thesis project for film school. Kinberg also wrote the pilot episode for a television adaptation of Mr. & Mrs. Smith for ABC TV. He also appears in the movie, in a scene with Brad Pitt.