Alex Kurtzman

Alex Kurtzman
Born	(1973-09-07) September 7, 1973 Los Angeles, California
Nationality	American
Other names	Alexander Kurtzman, Alexander Hilary Kurtzman
Occupation	Writer, producer, director
Spouse(s)	Samantha Counter (m. 2002)

Alex Kurtzman (born September 7, 1973) is an American film and television writer, producer and director.

Life and career

Kurtzman was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where he met his high school friend and longtime collaborator Roberto Orci. He attended Wesleyan University.^{[citation needed]}

Kurtzman first teamed with Orci on television on the syndicated series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. After they produced several storylines to cope with the absence of lead actor Kevin Sorbo following a stroke during the first season, Kurtzman and Orci were placed in charge of the show. They were both aged 24. They moved into films after they were asked to rewrite Michael Bay's The Island. The film earned $162 million at the box office on a budget of $126 million, which was a sufficient success that they were brought back for Bay's Transformers, which earned $710 million. The Island, Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, although not particularly well received by critics, earned a combined $1.7 billion. They wrote the 2009 film Star Trek alongside J. J. Abrams, with whom they had co-created the the FOX science-fiction series Fringe. After the pilot, Kurtzman served as consulting producer on the show for the remainder of its run.

In 2011, Forbes magazine described Orci and Kurtzman as "Hollywood's Secret Weapons" as over the course of the previous six years, their films grossed a combined total of over $3 billion at the box office. The partnership also wrote People like Us, originally known as Welcome to People, which was Kurtzman's directorial debut.

Since 2002, Kurtzman has been married to Samantha Counter, daughter of lawyer Nick Counter.

Filmography

Year	Film	Credit	Notes
2005	The Island	co-writer
	The Legend of Zorro	co-writer
2006	Mission: Impossible III	co-writer
2007	Transformers	co-writer
2008	Eagle Eye	producer
2009	Watchmen	co-writer	uncredited script polish
	Star Trek	co-writer and executive producer
	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	co-writer
	The Proposal	executive producer
2011	Cowboys & Aliens	co-writer, producer
2012	People Like Us	director, co-writer, co-producer
2013	Star Trek Into Darkness	co-writer, producer
	Now You See Me	producer
	Ender's Game	producer
2014	All You Need is Kill	co-writer
	The Amazing Spider-Man 2	co-writer, executive producer
TBA	Van Helsing	producer
	The Mummy	producer

Television credits

Year	TV Series	Credit	Notes
1997-1999	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	co-executive producer, writer
1999-2000	Xena: Warrior Princess	co-executive producer, writer
2000	Jack of All Trades	executive producer, writer
2001-2003	Alias	supervising producer, co-executive producer, executive producer, writer
2004	The Secret Service	co-creator, executive producer, co-writer	pilot
2008–2013	Fringe	co-creator, executive producer, consulting producer, writer
2010–present	Transformers Prime	executive producer
2010–present	Hawaii 5-0	co-developer, executive producer, writer
2011	Exit Strategy	co-creator, executive producer, co-writer	pilot
	Locke & Key	co-developer, executive producer, co-writer	pilot
2013	Sleepy Hollow	co-creator, co-writer, executive producer	pilot

External links

• Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci Discuss Trek and Transformers at AMCtv.com
• Alex Kurtzman at the Internet Movie Database
• Alex Kurtzman at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)