Bio
Lynn Hirschberg
Lynn Hirschberg is editor at large for The New York Times Magazine. She has been
on the Hollywood beat for more than 20 years, and in her current role she stands at the
nexus of the Los Angeles entertainment and New York publishing worlds. In addition
to her contributions to the weekly edition, Ms. Hirschberg also contributes to T, The
New York Times Style Magazines.
Her career has spanned an array of publications. She
started at Esquire and Rolling Stone in the early 80’s and by the early 90’s had become a
contract writer for Vanity Fair. In 1994, she moved to New York magazine for a year and
then did a stint at The New Yorker.
By 1996, she was writing for The New York Times
Magazine, for which she has been reporting exclusively since 1997, with the exception
of a freelance assignment from Vanity Fair to profile Jerry Seinfeld for the May 1998
cover.
Notable profiles she has written include Quentin Tarantino, in Vanity Fair just
before “Pulp Fiction” became a phenomenon; Bill Murray in The New York Times
Magazine when he was starring in “Rushmore”; Michael Ovitz in The Times; Warren
Beatty, in The New York Times Magazine to coincide with the release of “Bulworth”;
Leslie Moonves, the CEO and president of CBS Television, in The New York Times
Magazine; Conan O'Brien for a Vanity Fair piece as he prepared to take over Late Night
from David Letterman, and for The New York Times Magazine when he took over The
Tonight Show timeslot from Jay Leno.
Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller is an actor, writer, director, and producer. He can currently be seen in Noah
Baumbach's “Greenberg.” Through his production company, Red Hour Films, Mr. Stiller
co-wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy “Tropic Thunder” opposite Robert
Downey, Jr., Jack Black, and Tom Cruise.
Mr. Downey was nominated for an Academy
Award as well as a Golden Globe Award for his performance as Kirk Lazarus; Mr.
Cruise was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work as Les Grossman. Mr. Stiller's
other features as director include “Reality Bites,” in which he starred opposite Winona
Ryder and Ethan Hawke; “The Cable Guy,” starring Jim Carrey; and “Zoolander,” which
he co-wrote and in which he played the title role.
He executive-produced such television
pilots as “The Station” and “Heat Vision and Jack,” the latter starring Jack Black and the
voice of Owen Wilson and which Mr. Stiller also directed.
He won an Emmy Award as
one of the writers of “The Ben Stiller Show” and directed the television series, which
also starred Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo, and Bob Odenkirk; and was recently again an
Emmy nominee, for his guest-starring appearance on “Extras.”
Mr. Stiller's theater
credits as actor include the off-Broadway world premiere staging of Neil LaBute's “This
is How It Goes,” directed by George C. Wolfe, opposite Jeffrey Wright and Amanda
Peet; and the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of John Guare's “The House of
Blue Leaves,” directed by Jerry Zaks.
His many films as actor include David
Veloz' “Permanent Midnight,” in which he portrayed writer Jerry Stahl; Neil
LaBute's “Your Friends & Neighbors”; David O. Russell's “Flirting with Disaster”;
Steven Spielberg's “Empire of the Sun”; Peter and Bobby Farrelly's “There's Something
About Mary”; Wes Anderson's “The Royal Tenenbaums”; in voiceover, Eric Darnell and
Tom McGrath's “Madagascar” and “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”; Shawn
Levy's “Night at the Museum” and “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”;
Jay Roach's “Meet the Parents” and “Meet the Fockers”; and Todd Phillips' “Starsky &
Hutch” and Rawson Marshall Thurber's “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story”, both Red
Hour productions.
Red Hour's other recent productions include Carter Smith's
thriller “The Ruins,” which was adapted by Scott Smith from the latter's novel of the
same name; Josh Gordon and Will Speck's hit comedy “Blades of Glory,” starring Will
Ferrell and Jon Heder; and Gregory and Jeff Sherman's acclaimed documentary
feature “The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story.”
The company is currently in post-
production on Tom McGrath's animated superhero comedy “Megamind,” featuring the
voices of Brad Pitt, Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, and Tina Fey.
