Birthday:
11-19-1958
(66 years)
Birthplace:
New York City, New York, USA
Biography
Charles Stuart Kaufman (born November 19, 1958) is an American filmmaker and novelist. He wrote the films Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). He both wrote and directed the films Synecdoche, New York (2008), Anomalisa (2015), and I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020). In 2020, Kaufman made his literary debut with the release of his first novel, Antkind. One of the most celebrated screenwriters of his era, Kaufman has received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Independent Spirit Awards, and a Writers Guild of America Award. Film critic Roger Ebert called Synecdoche, New York "the best movie of the decade" in 2009. Three of Kaufman's scripts appear in the Writers Guild of America's list of the 101 greatest movie screenplays ever written.
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Their works
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Too Funny to Fail: The Life & Death of The Dana Carvey Show
Act like Self (archive footage)
event2017 star_border 7.9
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It had all the makings of a huge television success: a white-hot comic at the helm, a coveted primetime slot, and a pantheon of future comedy legends in the cast and crew. So why did The Dana Carvey Show—with a writers room and cast including then unknowns Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Louis C.K., Robert Smigel, Charlie Kaufman, and more— crash and burn so spectacularly? TOO FUNNY TO FAIL tells the hilarious true story of a crew of genius misfits who set out to make comedy history… and succeeded in a way they never intended.
None of Them Are You: Crafting Anomalisa
Act like Self
event2016
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A behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson's 2015 stop-motion animated drama Anomalisa.
Michel Gondry: Do It Yourself
Act like Self - Screenwriter
event2023 star_border 7.9
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A portrait of French filmmaker Michel Gondry, creator, for three decades, of an imperfect, astonishing, fascinating, damaged and poetic work.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Screenplay
event2004 star_border 8.1
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Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.
Human Nature
Producer
event2001 star_border 6
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Obsessive scientist Nathan and his lover, the naturalist Lila, discover Puff: a man born and raised in the wild. As Nathan trains the wild man in the civilized ways of the world, Lila fights to preserve the man’s natural state. In the power struggle that ensues, an unusual love triangle emerges.
Being John Malkovich
Executive Producer
event1999 star_border 7.4
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One day at work, unsuccessful puppeteer Craig finds a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich. The portal soon becomes a passion for anybody who enters its mad and controlling world of overtaking another human body.
Adaptation.
Screenplay
event2002 star_border 7.4
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Charlie Kaufman is a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald. While struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief," by Susan Orlean, Kaufman's life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman, Orlean's book, become strangely intertwined as each one's search for passion collides with the others'.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Screenplay
event2002 star_border 6.7
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Television made him famous, but his biggest hits happened off screen. Television producer by day, CIA assassin by night, Chuck Barris was recruited by the CIA at the height of his TV career and trained to become a covert operative. Or so Barris said.
Synecdoche, New York
Producer
event2008 star_border 7.5
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A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
The Actor
Executive Producer
new_releases Release: March 14, 2025
Paul Cole finds himself stranded in a mysterious small town with no memory of who he is or how he got here. As bits and pieces of his past slowly emerge, he attempts to find his way home, but time is slippery, appearances can't be trusted, and it's unclear which of his identities is real.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Director
event2020 star_border 6.6
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Nothing is as it seems when a woman experiencing misgivings about her new boyfriend joins him on a road trip to meet his parents at their remote farm.
Anomalisa
Writer
event2015 star_border 7.1
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An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.
Darkest Miriam
Executive Producer
event2024
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Miriam Gordon lives in a fog of grief while working in a downtown public library branch. When a burgeoning love-affair coincides with her receiving a series of oddly threatening letters, Miriam's sheltered existence is cracked open.
Orion and the Dark
Writer
event2024 star_border 6.6
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A boy with an active imagination faces his fears on an unforgettable journey through the night with his new friend: a giant, smiling creature named Dark.
The Memory Police
Screenplay
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On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, things have begun to disappear: at first little things: ribbons and then roses. Soon, photographs. However, a rare few are able to remember all that no longer exists – but the Memory Police are determined to make sure that what has been erased, remains forgotten forever. When a young novelist realizes her book editor is one of those able to still remember, she hides him in a room beneath her floorboards. As the world closes in around them, they struggle defiantly to hold onto the truth.
Waking Up
Thanks
event2010 star_border 4
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Martin Brown, who dreams he's traveling backwards through time, attempts to fix his relationship with his recently deceased wife, Jennifer.
Her
Thanks
event2013 star_border 7.9
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In the not so distant future, Theodore, a lonely writer, purchases a newly developed operating system designed to meet the user's every need. To Theodore's surprise, a romantic relationship develops between him and his operating system. This unconventional love story blends science fiction and romance in a sweet tale that explores the nature of love and the ways that technology isolates and connects us all.
Beth Stelling: Girl Daddy
Thanks
event2020 star_border 7.4
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Comedian Beth Stelling takes the stage at Minneapolis’ Varsity Theater to talk sex, drugs, and babies in her hilarious new special Beth Stelling: Girl Daddy. Musing on the ways that sexual pleasure is different for men and women, Stelling’s not ashamed to admit that she always thinks her massage therapist is falling for her – and is not afraid to call male comedians out for making lazy #MeToo jokes. Stelling also shares her takes on being a relationship person, having reverse body dysmorphia, alternative wedding traditions, her relationship with her Orlando-based actor father whose personality is “Fox News,” talking sex with her may-as-well-be-virginal mom, and how her sisters just love to make babies.
Kung Fu Panda 2
Script Consultant
event2011 star_border 7
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Po and his friends fight to stop a peacock villain from conquering China with a deadly new weapon, but first the Dragon Warrior must come to terms with his past.
Ad Astra
Script Consultant
event2019 star_border 6.1
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The near future, a time when both hope and hardships drive humanity to look to the stars and beyond. While a mysterious phenomenon menaces to destroy life on planet Earth, astronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across the immensity of space and its many perils to uncover the truth about a lost expedition that decades before boldly faced emptiness and silence in search of the unknown.
Get a Life
Writer (2 ep.)
event1990 star_border 7.4
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Surreal, twisted and hilariously funny, Get a Life is the ultimate anti-sitcom. Chris Peterson is a 30-year-old paperboy who still lives with his parents and who seems to have an ever decreasing grip on reality.
Moral Orel
Story (1 ep.)
event2005 star_border 8
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Orel is an 11-year-old boy who loves church. His unbridled enthusiasm for piousness and his misinterpretation of religious morals often lead to disastrous results, including self-mutilation and crack addiction. No matter how much trouble he gets into, his reverence always keeps him cheery.
Ned and Stacey
Writer (3 ep.)
event1995 star_border 7.2
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A self-centered ad exec and a liberal journalist enter into a marriage of convenience. He's trying to boost his business image; she likes his apartment.
The Trouble with Larry
Writer (1 ep.)
event1993 star_border 6
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The Trouble with Larry is an American sitcom that aired from August 25, 1993 to September 8, 1993 on CBS. It starred Bronson Pinchot as Larry Burton, a man returning home to Syracuse after being presumed dead for many years.
IQ 83
Director (1 ep.)
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A group of scientists conduct DNA experiments which result in the release of an airborne disease that gradually lowers the IQ of those infected.
The Edge
Writer (19 ep.)
event1992 star_border 7.6
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The Edge is an American sketch comedy television series created by David Mirkin which ran on the Fox Network from 1992 to 1993.
The Dana Carvey Show
Writer (8 ep.)
event1996 star_border 6.1
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Comics offer their takes on controversial subjects.
Misery Loves Company
Co-Producer (8 ep.)
event1995 star_border 4
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Misery Loves Company is an American sitcom television series that aired from October 1 until October 22, 1995.
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