Jez Butterworth

b. 1969

Jez Butterworth was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2019.

Jez Butterworth was born in London, in 1969. His first play, Mojo (Royal Court Theatre, 1995), won seven major awards, including the Olivier for Best Comedy. Other plays for the Court include The Night Heron (2002), The Winterling, (2009), and Jerusalem (2009). Jerusalem transferred to the West End, breaking box office records for a new play. It won Best Play at the Evening Standard Awards 2010, The UK Critic’s Circle Award for Best Play 2010, before travelling to Broadway where it won Best Foreign Play, at the 2011 New York Critics Circle Awards, It received six Tony nominations, winning two, including Best Actor for Mark Rylance. The River (Royal Court, 2012), transferred to Broadway in 2014, starring Hugh Jackman. Other plays include Parlour Song (Atlantic Theatre, 2008/Almieda Theatre, 2009).

Butterworth’s sixth play for the Royal Court, The Ferryman, directed by Sam Mendes, was extended during its time in the West End in London and is about to open on Broadway in New York. It received 15 five-star reviews in UK daily and national papers, and won Best Play and Best Director at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2017, the Critics Circle Award for Best Play, and 3 Olivier Awards for Best Director, Best Play and Best Actress.

His screenwriting credits include Fair Game (winner of the Paul Selvin Award, 2010), Get on Up (2014), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Black Mass (2015), and Spectre (2015). In 2007, Butterworth won the E.M Forster award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.