Martin Sherman was born in Philadelphia, raised in New Jersey and educated at Boston University. He has lived in London for over forty years. He was a resident playwright at Playwrights Horizons in New York and a member of the groundbreaking theatre company Gay Sweatshop in London. His plays have been produced in over sixty countries and include Bent (twice in London with Ian McKellen and once with Alan Cumming, on Broadway with Richard Gere), Messiah (West End, with Maureen Lipman), When She Danced and A Mad House in Goa (both West End, with Vanessa Redgrave), Some Sunny Day (Hampstead Theatre, with Rupert Everett), Rose (National Theatre and Broadway, with Olympia Dukakis) and Onassis (West End, with Robert Lindsay). His stage adaptations include E.M. Forster's A Passage to India, a new version of a Pirandello play, Absolutely (Perhaps!) (directed by Franco Zeffirelli, with Joan Plowright), and Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (Los Angeles, with Annette Benning and Alfred Molina, and Windsor, with Ian McKellen and Francesa Annis). He wrote the musical The Boy From Oz (Broadway, with Hugh Jackman). His latest play Gently Down the Stream premiered in New York at the Public Theatre. Rose was revived recently in the West End with Maureen Lipman. Martin's screenplays include The Clothes in the Wardrobe with Jeanne Moreau, Joan Plowright and Julie Walters; Alive and Kicking with Jason Flemyng, Anthony Sher and Bill Nighy; the film version of Bent with Clive Owen, Mick Jagger and Ian McKellen; Franco Zeffirelli's Callas Forever with Fanny Ardant and Jeremy Irons; The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone with Helen Mirren and Anne Bancroft; Mrs Henderson Presents, directed by Stephen Frears, with Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins. He has been nominated for two Tonys, two BAFTAS and two Oliviers.