Steven Zaillian (born January 30, 1953) is an Armenian-American screenwriter, film director, film editor, producer, and founder of Film Rites, a film production company. He won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Schindler's List and he has been nominated two times for Awakenings and Gangs of New York. The Times called him "the most artful and subtle screenwriter Hollywood has had since Robert Towne." Zaillian was born in Fresno, California, the son of Jim Zaillian, a radio news reporter. H ...