Peter Morgan Biography

Peter Morgan was born Peter Julian Robin Morgan, on April 10, 1963, in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom, to Arthur Morgenthau and Inga (Bojcek).

His father was a German Jew who had fled the Nazi rule. His mother was a Catholic Polish woman who had escaped from the Soviets. After Peter’s parents moved to the U.K. in 1933, they started using the surname “Morgan,” which is an Anglicized version of “Morgenthau.” When Peter was 9, he lost his father.

Peter initially attended the St. Paul's School in London. He then joined the Downside School, a boarding school in Somerset. Peter eventually joined the University of Leeds and earned a fine art degree.

Peter Morgan began writing when he was asked to create training videos on a student play that he had co-written with Mark Wadlow and had staged at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Peter then started his full-fledged career writing scripts for TV shows in the 1990s. He wrote for shows such as Rik Mayall Presents..., the Comedy Premieres TV comedy The Chest (1997), and the romantic comedy Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence (1998).

Over the years, Peter Morgan specialized in writing biographical films and series, combining both fact and fiction. In 2002, Peter earned some recognition with the TV series The Jury. In 2003, Peter got a breakthrough when he began working on the script for the TV drama The Deal, which portrayed the tale of the deal between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, which was finalized in London in 1994.

In 2006, Peter was nominated for an Academy Award for the follow-up show of The Deal, titled The Queen, which revolved around Princess Diana’s death and how it had affected the British royal family and Tony Blair. Actor Helen Mirren won plenty of awards for her performance in the title role.

The same year, Peter co-wrote the movie The Last King of Scotland with Jeremy Brock. The following year, they won a BAFTA award (known as the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film back then) for the film.

Peter Morgan's first play, Frost/Nixon, was performed at the Donmar Warehouse in London in 2006. It was about the infamous “Watergate” scandal and starred Michael Sheen as David Frost and Frank Langella as Richard Nixon.

In July 2009, the TV movie The Special Relationship started filming. It was the third film in Morgan's "Blair trilogy.” Michael Sheen played Blair in this movie, too. It revolved around Blair’s relationship with Bill Clinton between 1997 and 2000. Peter Morgan was initially supposed to direct the film but withdrew later. Peter later received two Primetime Emmy nominations for the film’s script.

In 2008, Peter Morgan turned Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré into a screenplay for a Working Title Films movie. The same year, the film Frost/Nixon, based on his script was released across the U.K. and the U.S. Like the play staged earlier, the film, too, had Michael Sheen as David Frost and Frank Langella as Richard Nixon. Peter earned an Academy Award nomination for the “Best Adapted Screenplay” for the film.

He wrote the 2009 sports drama The Damned United (adapted from David Peace's 2006 novel The Damned Utd). In June that year, he was declared as a co-writer of Skyfall, which was to be the 23rd James Bond film. However, in April 2010, tabloids reported that Peter had left the production after Sam Mendes joined as the director.

Peter also wrote the script for the 2010 thriller Hereafter, a Warner Bros. movie directed by Clint Eastwood.

In 2010, Peter wrote the screenplay for Bohemian Rhapsody. The movie was a biopic on rock star Freddie Mercury (played by Rami Malek), the lead singer of the British rock band Queen. The film eventually released in 2018 and was a hit, winning several awards.

Peter also wrote the 2013 biographical sports drama Rush, which showcased the rivalry between two Formula One racers.

Peter’s latest hit has been the Netflix biographical drama series The Crown, which began streaming in 2016 and has since been renewed for three seasons. It revolved around Queen Elizabeth II and her reign. A fourth season of the series is set to be aired in November 2020.

In 2004, Peter Morgan’s The Deal won the “Best Single Drama” award at the British Academy Television Awards (BAFTA TV Awards) ceremony. The Queen won the Golden Osella at the 2006 Venice Film Festival.

The Last King of Scotland won the “Best Adapted Screenplay” and the “Outstanding British Film” awards at the 2007 BAFTA Film Awards ceremony. Peter also won the 2007 BAFTA TV Award for the “Best Writer” for Longford.

In 2007, The Queen earned him the Golden Globe Award for the “Best Screenplay – Motion Picture.” He won the Golden Globe again in 2008, for the “Best Miniseries or Television Film” for Longford, and in 2016, for the “Best Television Series – Drama” for The Crown.

In May 2007, the won the Kanbar Award for Excellence in Screenwriting at the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival. The same year, he became one of 115 people invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

In 2008, Peter was placed at number 28 on the Telegraph's list of "the 100 most powerful people in British culture.”

In 2011, his play Frost/Nixon, staged in Chicago, Illinois, was nominated for the Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Production of a Play (Midsize).

The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies won the “Best Mini Series” award at the BAFTA TV Awards ceremony in 2015.

Peter received the honor of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Queen's New Years’ Honours List. He also received an “Honorary Degree in Letters” from the University of Leeds in July 2016.

In February 2017, he received a British Film Institute Fellowship (BFI). In November 2019, the American Film Institute featured a tribute to Peter’s career at the AFI FEST.

The Crown won him the AFI Television Program of the Year award in 2016, 2017, and 2019.

Peter Morgan got married to Anna Carolina “Lila” Schwarzenberg in a civil ceremony in London, on July 28, 1997. Lila is the daughter of Czech politician Karel Schwarzenberg.

Peter and Lila also had a religious marriage ceremony on 6 September 1997, at Murau, Austria.

The couple had five children, including a daughter, Maggie, and three sons (one of whom is known as Otis). The family lived in Battersea in South London until late 2006. Following this, they moved to Vienna.

Peter and Lila separated in 2014. Following this, Peter moved back to London. Since 2016, Peter has been in a relationship with actor Gillian Anderson.

Peter Morgan is known for his unique writing process, often dictating his scripts while walking around his office rather than sitting at a desk.

Despite his success in the film industry, Peter Morgan is a self-professed introvert who prefers to stay out of the spotlight.

Peter Morgan has a talent for writing characters with complex emotions and motivations, drawing on his own experiences and observations of human behavior.

In his free time, Peter Morgan enjoys painting and finds it to be a relaxing and creative outlet away from his writing projects.

Peter Morgan is known for his sharp wit and dry sense of humor, which often comes through in the dialogue of his characters.