David Simon (born September 15, 1960) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the HBO television series The Wire, which he also wrote and executive produced. He has also written and executive produced for other television series, including The Corner, Treme, Show Me a Hero, and The Deuce.
Simon was born in Washington, D.C. His father, Bernard Simon, was a Jewish immigrant from Poland who worked as a doctor. His mother, Dorothy Simon, was a homemaker. He grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and studied journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Simon began his career as a crime reporter for The Baltimore Sun in the 1980s. He wrote a series of articles about the drug trade in Baltimore which was later adapted into the miniseries The Corner. He also wrote a book about the same subject, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, which was later adapted into an NBC television series.
Simon then moved to television, writing and producing for several series, including NBC’s Homicide: Life on the Street and HBO’s The Wire. He also co-wrote the HBO miniseries The Corner, which won an Emmy Award in 2000.
Simon’s work on The Wire earned him critical acclaim, and in 2008 he was awarded the Writers Guild of America’s Paddy Chayefsky Award for Television Writing Achievement. In 2009, he won the Peabody Award for “television writing that is of unusually high quality.”
Simon has also written and executive produced for other television series, including Treme, Show Me a Hero, and The Deuce. He has also written several books, including The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, and The Wire: Truth Be Told.
Simon has been married to journalist Laura Lippman since 2008. He has two children from a previous marriage.
Simon has been a vocal critic of the criminal justice system in the United States, and he has spoken out against mass incarceration and police brutality. He is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship (also known as the “Genius” grant) for his “visionary exploration of the modern urban experience.”
David Simon is an acclaimed writer, producer, and actor whose work has had a great impact on television
