SAM SHEPARD is an actor, screenwriter, director and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright for his 1979 three-act play Buried Child. Shepard’s numerous other plays have included Angel City, Curse of the Starving Class, Killer’s Head, Action, The Mad Dog Blues, Cowboy Mouth and The Rock Garden.

Shepard’s fascinating career saw him as one of the writer’s of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Zabriski Point in 1970, and he later won critical acclaim for his original screenplay of Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas. As an actor, he made his film debut in Bob Dylan’s Renaldo and Clara, impressing critics the same year as the star, alongside Richard Gere, in Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven. A number of strong appearances followed, including Resurrection, Raggedy Man, opposite Jessica Lange in Frances and particularly as test pilot Chuck Yeager in Philip Kaufman’s The Right Stuff, which brought him an Academy Award nomination. He reteamed with Lange in Country and Crime of the Heart, and played the lead in Robert Altman’s adaptation of his play Fool for Love. Subsequent films have included Baby Boom, Steel Magnolias, Defenseless. Thunderheart, Bright Angel, Voyager, The Pelican Brief, Snow Falling on Cedars, Hamlet, All The Pretty Horses, The Pledge, Swordfish, Black Hawk Down, The Notebook and the upcoming features Stealth, Bandidas and Don’t Come Knocking.

Shepard’s notable television films and mini-series have included Larry Mc Murtry’s Streets of Laredo, Lily Dale, Purgatory, Dash and Lilly (which brought him both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for his performance as writer Dashiell Hammett), One Kill and Wild Geese. He also directed the features Far North and Silent Tongue, both of which Shepard also wrote. In addition, he has also co-written Zabriskie Point and Paris, Texas.