Who

A playwright and occasional film director, Shanley is the man behind recent Broadway hit Doubt and not-so-recent Cher hit Moonstruck.

Backstory

The son of an Irish meat packer, Bronx-born Shanley was a problem child for the ages: He was kicked out of kindergarten, banned from his elementary school's hot-lunch program for flinging mashed potatoes, expelled from Cardinal Spellman High School, and put on probation at NYU after his first year. After that final chastening, he took a two-year detour into the Marine Corps, which seems to have straightened him out, as he somehow managed not only to graduate from NYU but also do so as valedictorian. Shanley held a string of odd jobs after graduation—elevator conductor, house painter, locksmith, sandwich maker—before pursuing writing.

Shanley's first work to gain notice was the 1984 play Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. But he really shot to fame with his script for 1987's Moonstruck; the movie featuring Cher, Nic Cage, and Danny Aiello reigned supreme at the box office, taking in $80 million, and earned Shanley an Oscar for best original screenplay. And yet just as soon as he made his name, he almost destroyed it by writing and directing the 1990 Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan box-office cataclysm Joe and the Volcano. Shanley's screenwriting continued to follow a boom-bust pattern in the '90s, with 1993's cannibalism classic Alive followed by 1995's primate abomination Congo. By the late '90s, though, he'd turned much of his attention to the stage, writing plays like The Wild Goose, Psychopathia Sexualis, and Dirty Story. His first theatrical homerun arrived in 2004 with Doubt, A Parable.

Of note

The story of possible priestly indiscretions—and the nun (originally played by Cherry Jones) who suspects them—Doubt earned Shanley raves when it opened at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2004, and was soon transferred to Broadway. Ben Brantley of the Times called it "tight, absorbing, and expertly acted," and it went on to win the Pulitzer for Best Drama and the Tony for Best Play. Less adulated was Shanley's Sailor's Song, which debuted off-Broadway around the same time as Doubt. Equally disappointing was the unenthusiastic reception to Shanley's sequel to Doubt, a play called Defiance, which dealt with race relations on a North Carolina marine base. These days Shanley is at work directing the film version of Doubt, starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, which is due to hit theaters in late 2008. Presumably Shanley is also thinking about the third installment of Doubt: He has said Doubt and Defiance are part of a trilogy.

Health report

Shanley suffered a severe case of glaucoma several years ago, which temporarily blinded him in both eyes. He had several rounds of surgeries on his eyes and can now see, although he still has difficulty with his vision.

Personal

Twice-divorced, Shanley shares custody of his two adopted teenage sons, Frank and Nick, with his ex-wife, actress Jayne Haynes. Shanley currently lives in Brooklyn Heights with his girlfriend, actress Paula Devicq, who appeared on the Fox's Party of Five. Years ago, he was romantically connected to Kim Cattrall.

No joke

Shanley includes his email address in his Playbill bio: shanleysmoney@aol.com. He claims he responds to everyone who writes to him.

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