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Paul Albert Attanasio (born November 14, 1959) is an American screenwriter and producer of film and television, who was most recently an executive producer on the television series House.

Life and career

Attanasio was born in The Bronx, New York City, the son of Connie, a real estate broker, and Joseph Attanasio, a commercial consultant. Raised in the Pelham Bay section of The Bronx, he moved with his family to Tenafly, New Jersey. He is a 1981 graduate of Harvard College where he lived in Currier House, and earned his law degree at Harvard Law School in 1984. His wife Katie Jacobs is his producing partner; Attanasio and Jacobs have three children: Annabelle, John, and Grace. He is the brother of Mark Attanasio, Los Angeles investment manager who is the principal owner of the Milwaukee Brewers.

He was a film critic for The Washington Post from 1984 to 1987. He started writing for television with the CBS sitcom Doctor Doctor and the NBC crime drama Homicide: Life on the Street, which he created. In 1994 he wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay adaptation for the drama Quiz Show. He would later write the screenplays for the thriller Disclosure, the gangster movie Donnie Brasco, the science fiction film Sphere, and the political thriller The Sum of All Fears. In 2000 he returned to television and started executive producing, in addition to writing, the medical drama Gideon's Crossing and the pilot for R.U.S.H. Along with David Shore, he is one of the creators of the TV series House. In 2006 he wrote the screenplay for the dramatic film The Good German. According to various reports, Attanasio is co-writing a new film based on John Steinbeck's novel, East of Eden.

TV appearances

Attanasio was featured in The Dialogue interview series. In this 90 minute interview with producer Mike DeLuca, Attanasio describes how he went from lambasting movies as a “snotty” Washington Post film critic to developing rewarding creative partnerships with Oscar-winning directors Robert Redford, Barry Levinson, and Steven Soderbergh.

References

1. Paul Attansio, Filmreference.com. Accessed October 22, 2011.
2. ^ Weinraub, Bernard. "Flawed Characters In the Public Eye, Past and Present", The New York Times, September 12, 1994. Accessed October 22, 2011. "Mr. Attanasio grew up in the Bronx, in Pelham Bay, and his family later moved to Tenafly, N.J. (His father, Joseph, a businessman, had speaking parts in "Quiz Show" and "Disclosure.") After graduating from Harvard in 1981, and then Harvard Law School in 1984, he was hired at the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore."
3. Tyler Kepner (September 30, 2011). "Owner Goes All In on the Brewers". The New York Times.

External links

• Paul Attanasio at IMDb

Template:Persondata

• 1959 births
• American film producers
• American television producers
• Harvard Law School alumni
• Harvard University alumni
• Living people
• The Washington Post people
• People from the Bronx
• People from Teaneck, New Jersey