RON NYSWANER

     Ron Nyswaner’s screenplays include:  THE PAINTED VEIL (Independent Spirit Award nomination and National Board of Review’s best adapted screenplay award); SOLDIER’S GIRL (Peabody Award); and the ground-breaking, AIDS drama, PHILADELPHIA (nominations for Golden Globe, Writers’ Guild, BAFTA, and Academy Awards); MRS. SOFFEL; LOVE HURTS; SMITHEREENS; and THE PRINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA (also director). Currently, he’s chronicling the experiences of wounded Iraq war vets in the HBO drama, WALTER REED, for director Jim Sheridan; writing FREEHELD, for Ellen Page, based on the Academy-award winning short film; and directing his first documentary feature, SHE’S THE BEST THING IN IT, an exploration of the actor’s craft, featuring Tony award winner, Mary Louise Wilson.  
     His first book, BLUE DAYS, BLACK NIGHTS, was called “hilarious and uncompromising” by The New York Times, and was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. He has received many honors for his civil rights activism including the Ryan White Youth Service Award.  He sits on the board of the Woodstock Film Festival and mentors screenwriters in filmmaking labs around the world, from Jerusalem to Oaxaca.