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Barry Levinson
Alumni & Friends >> Barry Levinson
 | Barry LevinsonBA '67, CommunicationPresident, Baltimore Pictures, Inc. Director, Screenwriter, Producer
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Barry Levinson is an Academy Award-winning director, screenwriter and producer. He has won over 21 awards and received 19 nominations for his work, including the 1988 Best Director Oscar for the film Rain Man.
Levinson has earned great critical praise for his work, particularly for his 1987 work as director of Robin Williams in the comedy Good Morning Vietnam, which became one of the year’s most acclaimed and popular movies. Levinson also directed and produced the film Bugsy, which was nominated for ten Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.
As a screenwriter, Levinson has received three Academy Award nominations, for …And Justice for All, Diner, and Avalon. Some of Levinson's additional directorial credits include The Natural, Young Sherlock Holmes, Toys, Jimmy Hollywood, Disclosure, Sleepers, Sphere, and Wag the Dog.
Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Levinson has used his hometown as the setting for four widely praised feature films: Diner, the semi-autobiographical comedy/drama that marked his directorial debut, Tin Men starring Danny DeVito and Richard Dreyfuss, Avalon and Liberty Heights.
After attending American University School of Communication, Levinson moved to Los Angeles, where he began acting, writing, and performing comedy routines. He wrote for several television variety shows, including The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, The Tim Conway Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. A meeting with Mel Brooks led Levinson to collaborate with the veteran comedian on the features Silent Movie and High Anxiety.
Levinson later returned to Baltimore to film the television series Homicide: Life on the Street. His work on the critically-acclaimed drama earned him an Emmy for Best Individual Director of a Drama Series. The series received three Peabody Awards, two Writers Guild Awards and an Excellence in Quality Television Founders Award for its 1994 and 1995 seasons, the Nancy Susan Reynolds Award for outstanding portrayal of sexual responsibility in a dramatic series as well as a PRISM Commendation in 1996, two TCA Awards for program of the year and drama of the year and in 1997 and 1998 the TCA award for drama of the year. Levinson, along with his business partner Tom Fontana, received the 1999 Humanities Award for the Homicide: Life on the Street – Shades of Gray episode.
In 1997 Levinson produced the film Wag the Dog, a political satire eventually nominated for two Academy Awards. Levinson then partnered with Paula Weinstein, forming Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures. Together they produced Analyze This in 1999, a comedy starring Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal, which opened to instant box office success. Levinson has also produced films through his production company Baltimore Pictures, Inc. Critically acclaimed releases include Quiz Show, Donnie Brasco, and the HBO film The Second Civil War.
Barry Levinson, and his business partner Tom Fontana, formed the Levinson/Fontana Company and executive produced the critically-acclaimed HBO television series OZ, that aired for six seasons from 1998 through 2003. Levinson was an executive producer of the Levinson/Fontana Company’s show, The Bedford Diaries, for the WB Network.
Levinson became one of Variety’s “Billion Dollar Directors,” as well as ShoWest’s “Director of the Year” in 1998. In February 1999, Levinson was honored with a Creative Achievement Award by the 13th Annual American Comedy Awards. Later that year, American University conferred upon Levinson the Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa, for his distinguished work in the field of Communications and his defining impact on the motion picture and television industry. In February 2002, Barry received the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the year award honoring his filmmaking career. In 2003, he published his first novel, Sixty-Six.
Levinson serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the American University School of Communication and mentors SOC students through the SOC Alumni-Student Mentoring Program.
