Biography
Barry Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American screenwriter, director, actor, and producer of film and television. His best-known films include "The Natural" (1984), "Good Morning, Vietnam" (1987), "Rain Man" (1988), "Sleepers" (1996), and "Wag the Dog" (1997).
Known For
Complete Filmography

The Alto Knights
2025
Director, Producer
Two of New York's most notorious organized crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, vie for control of the city's streets. Once the best of fri...

American Sweatshop
2025
Producer
Daisy Moriarty is barely keeping her life together while working on the dark side of the internet. Alongside an eccentric team, she reviews flagged co...

Megalopolis
2024
Thanks
Genius artist Cesar Catilina seeks to leap the City of New Rome into a utopian, idealistic future, while his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, remain...

America's Burning
2024
Executive Producer
Narrated by Michael Douglas, America’s Burning calls on a remarkable range of expert perspectives from James Carville to Leon Panetta to Amy Chua as m...

Hans Zimmer: Hollywood Rebel
2022
as Self
An in-depth look of the 40 year journey, from post-war Germany to Hollywood royalty, of Hans Zimmer, the man who’s become the dominant force in the wo...

The Survivor
2022
Producer, Director
Harry Haft is a boxer who fought fellow prisoners in the concentration camps to survive. Haunted by the memories and his guilt, he attempts to use hig...

Ennio
2022
as Self
A portrait of Ennio Morricone, the most popular and prolific film composer of the 20th century, the one most loved by the international public, a two-...

Dean Martin: King of Cool
2021
as Self
Dean Martin had a laid-back charm that made him successful in everything from big-screen comedies to television variety shows to live acts in Las Vega...

Kreka: Dreamcatcher
2021
as Self
The career of the famous production designer Miljen Kljaković – Kreka and reveals all the beauty and importance of film scenography.

Here Today
2021
as Self
Veteran comedy writer Charlie Berns, who is slowly but surely losing his grip on reality, befriends a talented young New York street singer Emma Payge...

Malcolm & Marie
2021
Thanks
As a filmmaker and his girlfriend return home from his movie premiere, smoldering tensions and painful revelations push them toward a romantic reckoni...

Stars and Strife
2020
as Self
Examines how an epidemic of hatred has left America helpless in the face of crisis—and how a return to empathy can save us.

Stars and Strife
2020
Executive Producer
Examines how an epidemic of hatred has left America helpless in the face of crisis—and how a return to empathy can save us.

Paterno
2018
Executive Producer, Director
After becoming the winningest coach in college football history, Joe Paterno is embroiled in Penn State's Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, challen...

The Wizard of Lies
2017
Director, Executive Producer
A look behind the scenes at Bernie Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme, how it was perpetrated on the public and the trail of destruction it left in its wak...

Rock the Kasbah
2015
Director
A washed-up music producer finds one last shot at redemption with a golden-voiced young girl in Afghanistan. However, when jealousy gets the better of...

The Humbling
2014
Director, Producer
Following a breakdown and suicide attempt, an aging actor becomes involved with a much younger woman but soon finds that it's difficult to keep pace w...

Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight
2013
as Justice Potter Stewart
Muhammad Ali’s historic Supreme Court battle from behind closed doors. When Ali was drafted into the Vietnam War at the height of his boxing career, h...

Phil Spector
2013
Executive Producer
A drama centered on the relationship between Phil Spector and defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden while the music business legend was on trial for the...

The Bay
2012
Producer, Director
Two million fish washed ashore. One thousand blackbirds dropped from the sky. On July 4, 2009 a deadly menace swept through the quaint seaside town of...

Side by Side
2012
as Self
Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmak...

Another Happy Day
2011
Thanks
A wedding at her parents' Annapolis estate hurls high-strung Lynn into the center of touchy family dynamics.

You Don't Know Jack
2010
Executive Producer, Director
Controversy and legal problems follow Dr. Jack Kevorkian as he advocates assisted suicide.

The Band That Wouldn't Die
2009
as Self
In late March of 1984, a moving company secretly packed up the Baltimore Colts’ belongings and its fleet of vans sneaked off in the darkness of the ea...

The Band That Wouldn't Die
2009
Director
In late March of 1984, a moving company secretly packed up the Baltimore Colts’ belongings and its fleet of vans sneaked off in the darkness of the ea...

PoliWood
2009
Director
An in-depth look at the Democratic and Republican national conventions held during the 2008 U.S. Presidential election year.

What Just Happened
2008
Director, Producer
During the course of an ordinary week in Hollywood, movie producer Ben must navigate his way through shark-infested waters as he struggles to complete...

Marty Feldman: Six Degrees of Separation
2008
as Self
A documentary about the legendary and influential comedian, actor and writer, who went out from the BBC to conquer Hollywood, but sadly the system qui...

Bee Movie
2007
as Martin Benson (voice)
Barry B. Benson, a recent college graduate who wants more out of his life than making honey, decides to sue the human race after learning about the ex...

The Road to Damascus: The Reinvention of Bugsy Siegel
2006
as Self
Retrospective documentary of the film "Bugsy"

Man of the Year
2006
Director, Writer
The irreverent host of a political satire talk show decides to run for president and expose corruption in Washington. His stunt goes further than he e...

The Outsider
2005
as Self
Nicholas Jarecki follows director James Toback on the 12-day shoot of his thriller, When Will I Be Loved -- a movie made without a script or distribut...

Envy
2004
Director, Producer
A man becomes increasingly jealous of his friend's newfound success.

Strip Search
2004
Executive Producer
Strip Search follows several parallel stories examining personal freedoms vs. national security in the aftermath of 9/11; two main subplots involve an...

Deliver Us from Eva
2003
Executive Producer
Eva Dandridge has been in charge of her younger sisters ever since their parents died many years ago. She is a very uptight young woman who constantly...

Analyze That
2002
Executive Producer
The mafia's Paul Vitti is back in prison and will need some serious counseling when he gets out. Naturally, he returns to his analyst Dr. Ben Sobel fo...

Possession
2002
Producer
Maud Bailey, a brilliant English academic, is researching the life and work of poet Christabel La Motte. Roland Michell is an American scholar in Lond...

Shot in the Heart
2001
Executive Producer
The story of a man coming to terms with the sins and secrets of his notorious brother and, in the process, exploring the legacy of violence in his own...

Bandits
2001
Director, Producer
After escaping from prison, Joe and Terry go on a crime spree, robbing banks through Oregon and California in order to finance their scheme for a new ...
The Heart of 'The Natural'
2001
as Self

An Everlasting Piece
2000
Director, Producer
Colin is a Catholic and George is a poetry-loving Protestant. In Belfast in the 1980s, they could have been enemies, but instead they became business ...

Homicide: The Movie
2000
Executive Producer
Retired police lieutenant Al Giardello is running for mayor when he is suddenly shot at a press conference. All of the detectives, past and present, c...

Liberty Heights
1999
Director, Writer, Producer
This semi-autobiographical film by Barry Levinson follows various members of the Kurtzman clan, a Jewish family living in suburban Baltimore during th...
Original Diner Guys
1999
Director, Producer
When Barry Levinson wrote the movie Diner, he created characters based on a composite of various guys he hung out with at the local diner. The Origina...

Yesterday's Tomorrows
1999
Executive Producer, Director
Showtime's "In the 20th Century" is a millennium-related strand of feature-length documentaries in which famous directors take on major subjects of th...

Diner: On The Flip Side
1999
as Self
Interviews with cast and crew about their memories on the making of the film

Home Fries
1998
Producer
Dorian and Angus chase down their womanizing stepfather with a helicopter, frightening him to death. In his effort to cover their tracks, Dorian begin...

Sphere
1998
Director, Producer
A spacecraft is discovered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, presumed to be at least 300 years old and of alien origin. A crack team of scientists an...

Wag the Dog
1997
as Man at a Movie Studio (uncredited)
During the final weeks of a presidential race, the President is accused of sexual misconduct. To distract the public until the election, the President...

Wag the Dog
1997
Director, Producer
During the final weeks of a presidential race, the President is accused of sexual misconduct. To distract the public until the election, the President...

The Second Civil War
1997
Executive Producer
When a planeload of Pakistani orphans are shipped to his state for permanent relocation, the governor of Idaho defies the president and closes the sta...
Sports on the Silver Screen
1997
as Self (archive footage)
HBO (in association with the American Film Institute) presents this 1997 anthology, narrated by Liev Schreiber, which looks at sports in cinema from t...

Donnie Brasco
1997
Executive Producer
An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.

Sleepers
1996
Screenplay, Producer, Director
Two gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes pl...

Robbie Robertson: Going Home
1995
as Self
Documentary on musician Robbie Robertson.

A Little Princess
1995
Executive Producer
When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended...

Disclosure
1994
Producer, Director
A computer specialist is sued for sexual harassment by a former lover turned boss who initiated the act forcefully, which threatens both his career an...

Quiz Show
1994
as Dave Garroway
Herbert Stempel's transformation into an unexpected television personality unfolds as he secures victory on the cherished American game show, 'Twenty-...

Jimmy Hollywood
1994
as Director of 'Life Story'
Jimmy Alto is an actor wannabe who stumbles into the role of a lifetime. He becomes a vigilante crime-fighter, aided by his sidekick William, who has ...

Jimmy Hollywood
1994
Director, Writer, Producer
Jimmy Alto is an actor wannabe who stumbles into the role of a lifetime. He becomes a vigilante crime-fighter, aided by his sidekick William, who has ...

Toys
1992
Producer, Director, Screenplay
Leslie Zevo is a fun-loving inventor who must save his late father's toy factory from his evil uncle, Leland, a war-mongering general who rules the op...

Bugsy
1991
Director, Producer
New York gangster Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel takes a brief business trip to Los Angeles. A sharp-dressing womanizer with a foul temper, Siegel doesn't hesitat...

Kafka
1991
Executive Producer
Kafka, an insurance worker gets embroiled in an underground group after a co-worker is murdered. The underground group is responsible for bombings all...

Avalon
1990
Director, Screenplay, Producer
A Polish-Jewish family comes to the U.S. at the beginning of the twentieth century. There, the family and their children try to make themselves a bett...

Rain Man
1988
Director
When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has a savant olde...

Good Morning, Vietnam
1987
Director
A disk jockey goes to Vietnam to work for the Armed Forces Radio Service. While he becomes popular among the troops, his superiors disapprove of his h...

Tin Men
1987
Director, Writer
A minor car accident drives two rival aluminum-siding salesmen to the ridiculous extremes of man versus man in 1963 Baltimore.

Young Sherlock Holmes
1985
Director
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson meet as boys in an English Boarding school. Holmes is known for his deductive ability even as a youth, amazing his clas...
Displaced Person
1985
Producer
Displaced Person is a 1985 Emmy award winning drama based on a short story by Kurt Vonnegut. It was directed by Alan Bridges and adapted by Fred Barro...

The Natural
1984
Director
An unknown middle-aged batter named Roy Hobbs with a mysterious past appears out of nowhere to take a losing 1930s baseball team to the top of the lea...

Unfaithfully Yours
1984
Screenplay
A composer—who suspects his wife of cheating—plots to kill her and frame it on her lover, but things don't turn out as planned.

Diner
1983
Writer, Director, Executive Producer
This pilot for a TV version of the critically acclaimed feature Diner (1982) focused on the complaints of the wives, Elyse and Beth, that their husban...

Best Friends
1982
Writer
When a professional couple, who have lived and worked together for many years, finally decide to marry, their sudden betrothal causes many unexpected ...

Tootsie
1982
Additional Writing
When struggling, out of work actor Michael Dorsey secretly adopts a female alter ego – Dorothy Michaels – in order to land a part in a daytime drama, ...

Diner
1982
Director, Screenplay
Set in 1959, Diner shows how five young men resist their adulthood and seek refuge in their beloved Diner. The mundane, childish, and titillating deta...

History of the World: Part I
1981
as Column Salesman - The Roman Empire
An uproarious version of history that proves nothing is sacred – not even the Roman Empire, the French Revolution and the Spanish Inquisition.

Inside Moves
1980
Screenplay
After a failed suicide attempt leaves him partially crippled, Rory begins spending a lot of time at a neighborhood bar full of interesting misfits. Wh...

...And Justice for All
1979
Writer
An ethical Baltimore defense lawyer disgusted with rampant legal corruption is forced to defend a judge he despises in a rape trial under the threat o...

Peeping Times
1978
Writer, Director
Peeping Times is a comedy special that aired on NBC on January 25, 1978. Co-produced, written and directed by Rudy De Luca and Barry Levinson, the spe...

High Anxiety
1977
as Dennis - Bellboy
A psychiatrist with intense acrophobia (fear of heights) goes to work for a mental institution run by doctors who appear to be crazier than their pati...

High Anxiety
1977
Writer
A psychiatrist with intense acrophobia (fear of heights) goes to work for a mental institution run by doctors who appear to be crazier than their pati...

Silent Movie
1976
as Executive
Aspiring filmmakers Mel Funn, Marty Eggs and Dom Bell go to a financially troubled studio with an idea for a silent movie. In an effort to make the mo...

Silent Movie
1976
Screenplay
Aspiring filmmakers Mel Funn, Marty Eggs and Dom Bell go to a financially troubled studio with an idea for a silent movie. In an effort to make the mo...

Street Girls
1975
Writer
When a middle-aged father searches for his dropout daughter, Angel, his quest takes him into the underworld of prostitutes, pimps, drug addicts and th...

The Catholics
1973
Producer
Set in the near future. As a consequence of an ecumenical movement (Vatican Council IV), the Catholic Church has joined other religions and has elimin...
Robbie Robertson: A Retrospective - From the Band to the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame
N/A
as Himself
Released in 1994, this documentary tells the story of the life of Robbie Robertson, a central figure in the band that established an era of American r...

The Natural: The Best There Ever Was
N/A
as Self
An average baseball film in the making comes out of seemingly nowhere to become one of the best sports films made of all time. A true testament to the...
Assassination
N/A
Director
A new take on the JFK conspiracy, centering around Dorothy Kilgallen, one of the most famous voices in media at the time. When Dorothy suspects that L...
Sheela
N/A
Producer, Director
The biopic of a guru who perpetrated what is called the largest bio-terrorist attack executed on U.S. soil.