Aaron Sorkin's Real Name: Aaron Benjamin Sorkin

Quick answer: The writer is known professionally as Aaron Sorkin. Britannica and Biography.com independently give the fuller form Aaron Benjamin Sorkin and date his birth to June 9, 1961, in New York, New York. Biography.com independently says he grew up in the suburb of Scarsdale (Britannica; Biography.com).

Real name and early life

Independent publishers support the documented full name Aaron Benjamin Sorkin. Britannica says he grew up in suburban New York City, discovered an affinity for the theater as a child, and earned a B.F.A. from Syracuse University in 1983 before trying to make a living as a stage actor in New York City and later turning to dramatic writing. Biography.com independently records the New York City birth, a childhood in Scarsdale, that he was the son of an intellectual property lawyer and a schoolteacher, that he became vice president of the drama club at Scarsdale High School, a degree in musical theater from Syracuse University in 1983, and later work with a touring children's theater group.

Career highlights

Britannica says his play A Few Good Men (1989) was a major Broadway success, running for more than a year, and that he later adapted it into the 1992 film. Biography.com independently says the play reached Broadway in 1989 and the film arrived in December 1992, and earlier names the play Hidden in This Picture, produced with Nathan Lane in the cast. Britannica also names the film Malice (1993), The American President (1995), and Sports Night (1998–2000). It says he is perhaps best known for creating The West Wing (1999–2006) and for writing the screenplays for A Few Good Men and The Social Network (2010), and that The West Wing won nine Emmy Awards in its first season. Biography.com independently names those same core credits and The Newsroom. Britannica says he won an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for The Social Network, later cowrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Moneyball (2011), and also names Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–07), his directorial debut Molly's Game (2017), the Steve Jobs screenplay (2015), and The Trial of the Chicago 7, which he wrote and directed. Biography.com independently lists Moneyball, Steve Jobs, and Molly's Game.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Aaron Sorkin or Aaron Benjamin Sorkin are looking for the same American writer. Independent sources support the fuller form used in the title.