David Benioff's Real Name: David Friedman

Quick answer: David Benioff's real name is David Friedman. He is an American novelist and screenwriter, later a co-creator of the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Real name and early life

He is known professionally as David Benioff. Because Dartmouth Alumni Magazine and Business Insider independently record that he was earlier David Friedman and later took his mother's maiden name, Benioff, that earlier form is used in the title. Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, in a May–June 2017 profile, says he matriculated at Dartmouth as David Friedman and later took his mother's maiden name because of all the David Friedmans in Hollywood. Business Insider independently says he took her maiden name as an adult to end confusion with other artists named David Friedman, and names his mother as Barbara Benioff and his father as Stephen Friedman, the former head of Goldman Sachs. A birth date and birthplace are not independently recorded in the sources cited here.

Dartmouth Alumni Magazine says he was a member of Phi Delt and Sphinx at Dartmouth, originally planned to become an English professor, and later pursued an M.F.A. at UC Irvine.

Career highlights

Dartmouth Alumni Magazine says his career turned in 2001 after the success of his first published novel, The 25th Hour, about a drug dealer's last day before prison, and that Spike Lee directed the film adaptation, which Benioff also wrote. Business Insider independently says that before Game of Thrones he was best known for The 25th Hour, which he turned into a screenplay for Spike Lee, and for City of Thieves. Dartmouth Alumni Magazine lists later screenplays including Troy (2004), The Kite Runner (2007), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and Brothers (2009), as well as a short-story collection, When the Nines Roll Over (2004), and a second novel, City of Thieves (2008). Business Insider independently names The Kite Runner, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Brothers among his film credits.

The magazine says his larger break came when HBO accepted a pitch from Benioff and writing partner D.B. Weiss to bring George R.R. Martin's book series A Song of Ice and Fire to the screen, work known as Game of Thrones. Business Insider, in April 2015, independently calls him the creator of Game of Thrones and says his parents had a cameo in that series' Season 4 premiere. The 2017 profile does not independently record a series end date so this page does not add one.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up David Benioff or David Friedman are looking for the same American writer. Independent sources support the earlier form used in the title.