Ron Nyswaner
Nyswaner (NY-swahn-ər; born October 5, 1956) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is a Peabody Award winner, and has been nominated for numerous awards including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. He is known for his screenplays Smithereens (1982), Philadelphia (1993), The Painted Veil (2006), Freeheld (2015), and My Policeman (2022).
Ron Nyswaner

Peabody Awards · 363 pa · CC BY 2.0
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- film director · writer · screenwriter
- Education
- University of Pittsburgh
- Languages
- English
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Nyswaner (NY-swahn-ər; born October 5, 1956) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is a Peabody Award winner, and has been nominated for numerous awards including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. He is known for his screenplays Smithereens (1982), Philadelphia (1993), The Painted Veil (2006), Freeheld (2015), and My Policeman (2022).
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wikidata · Q1281149 · wikipedia · Ron Nyswaner
In this article
Early life and education
Early life and education
He is also known as a writer and producer of the Showtime series Ray Donovan (2013–2015), Homeland (2017–2018), and the historical drama series Fellow Travelers (2023).
Nyswaner was born in Clarksville, Pennsylvania. He later attended the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia University.
Career
Career
Nyswaner wrote his first screenplay for the Susan Seidelman film Smithereens. After two other notable screenplays for Swing Shift and Mrs. Soffel, he gave his directorial debut with The Prince of Pennsylvania in 1988, a film with Keanu Reeves and Fred Ward. Nyswaner, who is openly gay and an activist for gay rights, has often worked on movies dealing with subjects such as homosexuality, homophobia, and AIDS. In 1993, he came to worldwide prominence for his screenplay to the Academy Award-winning movie Philadelphia, directed by Jonathan Demme. It earned him nominations at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, and the BAFTAs. After several years of working for television, he wrote the screenplay for the 2006 film The Painted Veil, based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham. He received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award and won the award of the National Board of Review in 2006. From 2015 to 2017, he was an executive producer for the Showtime TV series Homeland. In 2015, Nyswaner directed the documentary film She's the Best Thing in It, featuring Mary Louise Wilson, which he coproduced along with Jeffrey Schwarz and Neda Armian. Nyswaner created the historical drama miniseries Fellow Travelers in 2023, which won a Peabody Award at the 84th ceremony in 2024.
Film
As a director As a writer

Writer/producer James Schamus, Ron Nyswaner (screenwriter, "Philadelphia"), director Ang Lee, and Woodstock creator Michael Lang
larry-411 · Afterparty, "Taking Woodstock"
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Ron Nyswaner”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1281149: Ron Nyswaner
Unverified · Wikidata
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Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Ron Nyswaner. The New York Times.
- 2.Fellow Travelers.
- 3.Soloski, Alexis. To Make 'Fellow Travelers,' Ron Nyswaner Had to Fall in Love. The New York Times. 2023-10-23. 0362-4331.
- 4.Nyswaner, Ron. Blue Days, Black Nights: A Memoir. Advocate Books. 2004. 1-55583-889-8.
- 5.Setoodeh, Ramin. SXSW Doc 'She's the Best Thing in It' Sells to GoDigital (EXCLUSIVE). www.yahoo.com. December 18, 2015.
- 6.Fellow Travelers.
- 7.Otterson, Joe. 'Bridgerton' Star Jonathan Bailey Joins Matt Bomer in Showtime Limited Series 'Fellow Travelers'. Variety. 2022-07-11.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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