Category:
Richest Celebrities › Authors
Net Worth:
$100 Million
Birthdate:
Sep 25, 1970 (54 years old)
Birthplace:
New York City
Gender:
Male
Profession:
Screenwriter, Television producer, Novelist, Television Director
Nationality:
United States of America
David Benioff is an American writer and producer who has a net worth of $100 million. David Benioff is best known for developing and producing the show “Game of Thrones” for HBO. He also has worked on “Troy,” “City of Thieves,” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”
David published his first book while working as a teacher. The novel, “The 25th Hour”, was later turned into a movie starring Edward Norton. He wrote the screenplay, as well. Since then, he has written such films as “Troy,” “Stay,” “The Kite Runner,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” and “Brothers.” He is most widely recognized as the co-creator, executive producer, showrunner, and writer for the massively successful HBO series, “Game of Thrones,” which debuted on April 17, 2011. David and his GoT producing partner D.B. Weiss directed two episodes of the series together, including the widely-panned series finale, which some consider the worst in the history of television. In March 2024, David and D.B. released the series “3 Body Problem” on Netflix. The 8-episode series was produced at a budget of $20 million per episode, and was did not achieve significant ratings.
David Benioff has been married to actress Amanda Peet since 2006. They married on September 30, 2006, in New York City and now have three children together. David’s distant cousin is Salesforce billionaire Marc Benioff. They share the same grandfather on their paternal sides.
In February 2018, it was revealed that D.B. Weiss and his producing partner David Benioff had signed a multi-film deal with Disney to produce at least three Star Wars movies to be released in 2022, 2024, and 2026.
On August 7, 2019, it was announced that D.B. Weiss and David Benioff had signed a multi-year $200 million overall deal with Netflix. The duo had also been in talks with Disney and Amazon, but Netflix won out in the end. The deal does not impact their Disney film partnership. The duo will also retain executive producer credits on all future HBO Game of Thrones spinoffs and prequels, which are reportedly in the works, though they will not be involved in those projects. In May 2022 the duo signed a drastically reduced deal to remain at Netflix.
Benioff was born on September 25, 1970 in New York City. His birth name is David Friedman, and he is the youngest child of Barbara and Stephen Friedman. Both of his parents are Jewish, with roots in Germany, Poland, Russia, Austria, and Romania. Benioff grew up with his two older sisters in Manhattan. His father is the former head of Goldman Sachs.
Benioff attended the Collegiate School in New York City, which is considered to be one of the oldest schools in the United States. He then enrolled at Dartmouth College, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Alpha Fraternity and the Sphinx Senior Society. When he graduated in 1992, he worked a number of different jobs as a bouncer at a club in San Francisco, as a high school English teacher, and as a wrestling coach. He then became interested in pursuing a career in academia. He went to Trinity College Dublin in 1995, where he studied Irish literature for one year. There, he met D. B. Weiss, who would become his collaborator in the future. However, he ultimately decided against a career in academia and enrolled in a creative writing program at the University of California, Irvine, where he received a degree in creative writing in 1999.
Benioff published his first novel in 2001 under the pen name Jacqueline Benioff, his mother’s maiden name. The novel, “The 25th Hour,” was the final result of his master’s thesis from his degree at the University of California, Irvine. Tobey Maguire read a preliminary copy of the book and asked Benioff to adapt the book into a screenplay. The film adaptation, “25th Hour,” was made in 2002 and starred Edward Norton and was directed by Spike Lee.
In 2004, Benioff published a collection of short stories, “When the Nines Roll Over (And Other Stories).” He also began drafting a screenplay for the mythological epic, “Troy,” which became a film in 2004 starring Brad Pitt. The film was a success and Benioff’s first large commercial success. He also wrote the script for the thriller film, “Stay,” starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts. In 2007, he adapted the novel, “The Kite Runner,” into a screenplay, which became a film of the same name. Both “Stay” and “The Kite Runner” were directed by Marc Forster. He also released his second novel in 2008 called “City of Thieves.”
In 2009, the screenplay that Benioff had been working on for several years was finally made. Originally hired in 2004 to write the screenplay for the “X-Men” spin-off, Benioff’s creation, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” was based on a number of other scripts and also involved collaboration with the actor Hugh Jackman, who had played the role of Wolverine in “X-Men.” Though Skip Woods was later hired to rework Benioff’s script to make it less dark and brutal, Benioff still had a large influence on the project.
Benioff also had been working on another project for a number of years after becoming interested in adapting George R. R. Martin’s novel series, “A Song of Ice and Fire,” into a television show. He began working with Weiss, whom he had met in Ireland, on “Game of Thrones.” The show was greenlit in 2010 by BHO. Benioff and Weiss acted as the show’s executive producers, showrunners, and writers. The first episode aired in 2011, and it quickly became a commercial and critical success. It was the nominee and recipient of many awards over the years, some of which focused specifically on the writing of the show. However, fans did become unhappy with the writing of the show in its later seasons, particularly the eighth and final season in 2019. Over one million fans signed a petition to remake the final season using new writers, though nothing ever came of this petition.
While working on “Game of Thrones,” Benioff also wrote on a number of other projects, though not all of them were made. Along with Weiss, Benioff announced he had signed on to his first feature film project called “Dirty White Boys,” based on the novel by Stephen Hunter. Due to their obligations to other projects, production began very slowly before stopping altogether, and the film was never made.
In 2018, Disney announced that Benioff and Weiss would write and produce a new series of “Star Wars” films. However, after negotiating an exclusive multi-year film and television deal with Netflix worth $200 million, the duo decided to exit their contracts with Disney and did not work on the “Star Wars” films.
Benioff has also tried his hand at directing. He directed two episodes of “Game of Thrones” and also co-directed the series finale with Weiss. The duo also directed the stand-up comedy special “Leslie Jones: Time Machine” together in 2019.
In September 2006, Benioff married actress Amanda Peet in a traditional Jewish ceremony in New York City. Together, they have had three children. The family spends their time at their homes in Manhattan and Beverly Hills.
In December 2007, when she was still by far the bread winner of the family, Amanda and David plunked down $4.625 million for a four-bedroom home in Beverly Hills. They also own a home in New York City.
