Photo: BrooksieR / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
William Monahan is the kind of screenwriter I deeply respect, because he came to film as a real writer first, a Boston novelist and journalist who knew the weight of a sentence. His adaptation of The Departed, reworking Hong Kong's Infernal Affairs into the rot of South Boston, won him the Academy Award and felt like a translation in the truest sense, faithful in spirit yet utterly his own. What I admire most is his ear for dialogue that smells of a specific place. Monahan reminds me that the best adaptations aren't copies, they're reincarnations carried by a writer who knows exactly where he's from.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- William Monahan
- Name (Japanese)
- ウィリアム・モナハン
- Reading
- うぃりあむ・もなはん
- Born
- November 3, 1960 (age 65)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Rat
- Origin
- Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Occupation
- screenwriter / novelist / writer / journalist / critic
2. Background
- University
- University of Massachusetts Amherst
Awards & achievements
- 2007 Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was William Monahan born?
Born November 3, 1960 (age 65).
Where is William Monahan from?
William Monahan is from Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
What does William Monahan do?
William Monahan works as screenwriter, novelist, writer, journalist, critic.
Screenwriter — see all → · Novelist — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.