American playwright Martin Sherman was BOTD in 1938. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Russian Jewish immigrants, he grew up in New Jersey, showing an early interest in theatre. He studied drama at Boston University College of Fine Arts, and moved to New York City, where he studied at the Actors Studio. He produced his first full length piece, the rock musical A Solitary Thing, in 1963, as part of a writing fellowship in Oakland, California. After returning to New York, he wrote and produced the plays Fat Tuesday, New Year in Jerusalem and The Night Before Paris. He relocated to London in the 1970s, rising to wider public attention with his 1979 play Bent, an exploration of the persecution, imprisonment and torture of gay men Nazi Germany. Originally produced at the Royal Court Theatre and starring Ian McKellen, it became one of the first plays to directly address gay men as victims of the Holocaust, igniting significant controversy. The play transferred successfully to Broadway, making a star of the then-unknown Richard Gere, and was nominated for the Tony Award for best play. Bent was successfully revived in London in 1989, again starring McKellen with Ian Charleson, and directed by McKellen’s then-boyfriend Sean Mathias. In 1996, Sherman contributed rewrites for the Broadway revival of The Boy From Oz, a musical about the life of closeted gay singer Peter Allen, earning him a second Tony Award nomination. His 1999 one-woman play Rose, starring Olympia Dukakis, was nominated for an Olivier Award for best new play, and transferred successfully to Broadway. He also collaborated with director Franco Zeffirelli on an adaptation of Luigi Pirandello’s play Così è (se vi pare), and wrote stage adaptations of E. M. Forster‘s novel A Passage to India and Tennessee Williams‘ The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. In 1996, he made his screenwriting debut with Indian Summer (released in the United States as Alive & Kicking), a drama about a young gay HIV+ man. The following year, he adapted Bent for a film directed by Mathias and starring McKellen, Clive Owen, Lothaire Bluteau and Mick Jagger. His other screenplays include Callas Forever, Zeffirelli’s 2002 biopic of opera star Maria Callas; a TV film adaptation of The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone; and the 2005 comedy film Mrs Henderson Presents starring Judi Dench. His most recent work, the play Gently Down the Stream, opened on Broadway in 2017, directed by Mathias and starring Harvey Fierstein. His memoir On the Boardwalk was published in 2025. Openly gay since forever, he lives in London. His current relationship status is unknown.