David Levien

David Levien is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and author whose most works fit in the suspense-thriller genre. He is well-known for co-writing with his regular associate, Brian Koppelman, the third and final installment of the Ocean’s trilogy, “Ocean’s Thirteen” (2007), starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Al Pacino. David was born on 9th December 1967 in Queens, New York. After graduating from the University of Michigan, Boston University in Massachusetts, he collaborated with Koppelman to write the script for his first movie, “Rounders” (1998). The movie had a successful run at the box office, which led David to try his hand at direction, and production. However, his next creation “Knockaround Guys” (2001) turned out to be a huge flop, making even lesser money than the production costs.

His subsequent works also failed to gather attention till he presented his production “The Illusionist” in 2006, starring Edward Norton and Jessica Biel. The movie gained critical success and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. He also co-wrote the Hollywood blockbuster “Runner Runner” (2013), featuring Ben Affleck, and Justin Timberlake. His other notable writings include “Runaway Jury” (2003), “Walking Tall” (2004), “The Lucky Ones” (2008), and “I Smile Back” (2015). Levien planned on making his debut on television in 2003 with an adaption of John Grisham’s legal thriller ‘The Street Lawyer’ (1998).

The pilot episode was filmed but the rest of the project never materialized and the show was not aired. After the game form of poker, no-limit Texas hold'em, gained ground in early 2000s due to ESPN channel’s coverage of the World Series of Poker tournament, Koppelman and Levien created the TVmini-series “Tilt” in 2005, which revolved around a group of professional poker players who team up against a legendary gambler, Don 'The Matador' Everest, due to the personal grudges each player bore against Don. The show was produced with a view of capitalizing on the popularity of poker.

Levien’s first major TV series was “Billions” (2016), which recently wrapped up its thrilling fourth season and has cliff-hanged the viewers for a fifth one. David’s debut novel as an author was ‘Wormwood’ (1999), which narrates the story of an aspiring filmmaker who is new to Hollywood and along his journey in the showbiz, learns a lot about human nature and himself, more than he did from movies. The novel received a positive response from readers, following which David penned down many other successful titles, including ‘Swagbelly’ (2003), ‘City of the Sun’ (2008) and ‘Signature Kill’ (2014). He currently resides in Connecticut with his wife, Melissa, and three sons.