Graham Moore

Graham Moore (born October 18, 1981) is an American filmmaker and author. He is best known for his screenplay for the historical film The Imitation Game, which topped the 2011 Black List and won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Early life and family Moore was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised on the city's north side. He is "the son of two lawyers who divorced and then married two other lawyers"; Moore's father, Gary Moore, is an insurance defense attorney and his mother, Susan Sher (née Steiner), works for the University of Chicago. His mother was formerly the City of Chicago's chief lawyer and First Lady Michelle Obama's chief of staff.

Moore's parents divorced when he was young. Raised Jewish, in 1999 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in religious history in 2003 from Columbia University.

During his Academy Award acceptance speech in February 2015, Moore stated:

This led viewers to believe that Graham Moore was gay and highlighted his own experience as an LGBTQ youth. Many people praised the speech on Twitter comparing it to the openly gay screenwriter Dustin Lance Black who won an Oscar for Milk (2008). However, Moore has clarified to reporters he is in fact straight and not gay.

The speech has since drawn criticisms for his use of the word "weird" and for misleading audiences. J. Bryan Lowder of Slate wrote, "without harping on Moore's flustered speech too much, it's worth taking a moment to explain the trouble with that equivalence more generally and to think about why gay people might be so sensitive to it—especially coming as it did from the straight writer of a film that desperately marketed itself to audiences and Academy voters as a gay political statement." Ira Maddison III of BuzzFeed sharply criticized the language and vagueness of Moore's speech writing, "We don't need a straight, white male who wrote a straight-washed movie about Alan Turing as our savior. We need diverse women and men who are looking to the future, not people looking to past and crafting a speech that will appeal in its vagueness to anyone who's "weird.""

Moore lives in Los Angeles, California. He married a woman in 2019 and together they have a child.

Career

Moore began his writing career working with childhood friend Ben Epstein, who was attending Tisch School of the Arts in New York City.

Moore's first book, The Sherlockian, was on the New York Times bestseller list for three weeks. The script earned Moore numerous nominations, including the 2014 Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, and ultimately won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 87th Academy Awards (awarded February 2015).

Moore's second book, The Last Days of Night, was published by Random House on August 16, 2016. Set in 1888 New York City, the novel focuses on the heated rivalry between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse during the advent of electricity and is told through the eyes of Westinghouse's attorney, Paul Cravath. Moore has adapted the screenplay for The Last Days of Night to be directed by Oscar-nominated director of The Imitation Game Morten Tyldum. Moore will write, direct, and produce the sci-fi thriller Naked Is the Best Disguise for Studio 8.

His third book, The Holdout, follows Maya Seale, who finds herself the prime suspect when one of her fellow trial jurors is found dead, ten years after they took part in a controversial verdict.

Moore's first film as director, The Outfit, premiered at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival on February 14, 2022. It received positive reviews.

As of 2023, his book The Holdout, was being considered for an adaptation.

Novels The Sherlockian (2010), published by Twelve The Last Days of Night (August 16, 2016), published by Penguin Random House The Holdout (February 18, 2020), published by Random House The Wealth of Shadows (May 21, 2024), published by Random House.

Filmography Short film Year Title Director Writer Producer 2005 Pirates vs. Ninjas 2008 The Waiting Room

Feature film Year Title Director Writer ExecutiveProducer 2014 The Imitation Game 2022 The Outfit

Television series Year Title Director Writer Creator ExecutiveProducer Notes 2010 10 Things I Hate About You Episode: Meat is Murder 2026 The Altruists

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result 2011 Anthony Awards Best First Novel 2014 British Independent Film Awards Best Screenplay The Imitation Game Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Adapted Screenplay San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award Best Adapted Screenplay Chicago Film Critics Association Best Adapted Screenplay 2015 Golden Globe Award Best Screenplay Critics' Choice Movie Awards Best Adapted Screenplay AACTA International Awards Best Screenplay USC Scripter AwardBest Adapted Screenplay British Academy Film Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Writers Guild of America Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Satellite Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Awards Best Adapted Screenplay PEN Center USA Best Screenplay 2016 The Washington Post Notable fiction in 2016 The Last Days of Night 2017 American Library Association Year's best in genre fiction for adult readers