Noah Harpster

• Name — Noah Harpster • Education — University of California, Santa Barbara (BFA) • Occupation — * Actor • Writer • Director • Producer • Known for — * A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood • Painkiller • Transparent • One Mississippi • For All Mankind • Awards — Humanitas Prize, PEN award, Peabody Award

Harpster grew up in Salinas, California. He attended Salinas High School, where he wasn't selected for the baseball team and took up acting before graduating in 1994. He later attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting in 1998.

He and his writing partner Micah Fitzerman-Blue wrote the script for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood about Fred Rogers which landed on the Black List in 2013. After a nearly 10-year process, it was released in 2019, starring Tom Hanks, Chris Cooper, Matthew Rhys, and Harpster himself in a small role. For their screenplay, Fitzerman-Blue and Harpster were nominated for also winners of the prestigious PEN Award and the Humanities Prize. He and Fitzerman-Blue also co-wrote Maleficent: Mistress of Evil alongside Linda Woolverton. In 2017, they opened their production company, Blue Harp., and in 2018, he and Fitzerman-Blue were listed on Varietys 10 Screenwriters to Watch. Since 2019 he has played NASA Mission Controller Bill Strausser in the Apple TV+ alternate history series For All Mankind, created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi. In 2021, Harpster and Fitzerman-Blue created the limited series Painkiller for Netflix. Painkiller is a dramatization of the birth of the opioid crisis and stars Matthew Broderick, Uzo Aduba, Taylor Kitsch, Dina Shihabi, and West Duchovony. It is based on the reporting work done by Barry Meier for the New York Times and Patrick Radden Keefe for the New Yorker. Harpster also has an acting role in the limited series. It was released August 10, 2023. Along with Fitzerman-Blue, he will be co-directing the film adaptation of Dash Shaw's Bottomless Belly Button.

• Year — Title — Credited as — Notes • Writer — Executive Producer — Actor • 2010 — Takedowns and Falls • 2012 — The Motel Life — co-written with Micah Fitzerman-Blue • 2013 — Afternoon Delight • 2014–2019 — Transparent — co-written with Micah Fitzerman-Blue • 2015–2017 — One Mississippi • 2017 — Legend of Master Legend — created and co-written with Micah Fitzerman-Blue • 2019 — A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood — co-written with Micah Fitzerman-Blue • 2019 — Maleficent: Mistress of Evil — co-written with Micah Fitzerman-Blue • 2019–2023 — For All Mankind — Recurring role • 2020 — 'Magic Camp' — co-written with Micah Fitzerman-Blue • 2023 — Painkiller — created and co-written with Micah Fitzerman-Blue • 2024 — Bottomless Belly Button| Bottomless Belly Button — directed and co-written with Micah Fitzerman-Blue • 2024 — The USA vs. Vince McMahon — co-written with Micah Fitzerman-Blue • 2025 — Unt. Fernando Valenzuela series — co-written with Micah Fitzerman-Blue • Cancelled — Bambi| Bambi — co-written with Micah Fitzerman-Blue Additional literary material • Christopher Robin (film) (2018) • Cruella (2021) • Haunted Mansion (2023)