Sam Esmail facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sam Esmail
Esmail in March 2016
Born	(1977-09-17) September 17, 1977 (age 47) Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S.
Education	New York University (BA) Dartmouth College American Film Institute (MFA)
Occupation	Director producer writer
Years active	2004–present
Notable work	Mr. Robot Homecoming Comet
Spouse(s)	Emmy Rossum ​ (m. 2017)​
Children	2
Relatives	Arthur P. Becker (cousin by marriage)

Sam Esmail (born September 17, 1977) is an Egyptian-American film and television creator. He is a talented producer, director, and writer. Sam Esmail is famous for creating, writing, and directing the TV series Mr. Robot (2015–2019). This show starred Rami Malek and won many awards. He also wrote and directed the movies Comet (2014) and Leave the World Behind (2023).

Esmail produced and directed the first season of the TV show Homecoming (2018–2020). This show featured Julia Roberts. His work often explores ideas about feeling alone, technology, and American life.

Early Life and Education

Growing Up and Early Interests

Sam Esmail was born in Hoboken, New Jersey. His parents were immigrants from Egypt. He has an older sister and two younger brothers. One of his brothers, Samer Esmail, worked on Mr. Robot and Homecoming.

When Sam was five, his family moved to South Carolina and then to Charlotte, North Carolina. He was very interested in technology from a young age. He got his first computer when he was nine. A few years later, he started learning computer programming.

High School and College Years

Esmail went to high school in Summerville, South Carolina. He later moved back to Sewell, New Jersey. He graduated from Washington Township High School in 1995.

He then went to New York University. There, he studied film and computer science. He graduated in 1998 from the university's Tisch School of the Arts. While at college, he even worked in the computer lab.

After college, Esmail worked for an internet company for a short time. He then started his own software company called Portal Vision. He raised a lot of money for his company. However, the software quickly became old as faster internet became popular. He left his company to study creative writing at Dartmouth College.

In 2001, Esmail moved to Los Angeles. He studied directing at the AFI Conservatory. He earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in 2004.

Career Highlights

Starting in Hollywood

After finishing film school in 2004, Sam Esmail found it hard to get a job. He worked many different small jobs. For a few years, he was an assistant film editor. He helped edit reality TV shows and comedy specials. He also worked on "making of" features for movies.

Esmail was frustrated with his career and Hollywood movies. So, he started writing his own screenplays. One of his screenplays, Sequels, Remakes & Adaptations, was listed on the "Black List" in 2008. This list features popular movie scripts that haven't been made yet. This helped him find an agent in Hollywood. He wrote another screenplay that also made the Black List. He also co-wrote the horror film Mockingbird, which came out in 2014.

He later decided to focus on directing. He wrote and directed his first feature film, Comet. This movie was released in 2014.

Creating Mr. Robot

Esmail started working on the TV show Mr. Robot in the late 2000s. He first thought it would be a movie. The show was inspired by the 2008 financial crisis. He said the main character, Elliot, is a lot like him. Like Elliot, Esmail also experiences social anxiety.

He decided to turn his idea into a TV show pilot. He worked with USA Network to develop the show in 2014. Mr. Robot first aired on June 24, 2015. Esmail was the creator, executive producer, and head writer for the series. From the second season on, he directed every episode of the show. He directed 38 out of 45 episodes in total.

The first season of Mr. Robot was highly praised by critics. Esmail was nominated for two Emmys and other awards. The show's other seasons came out in 2016, 2017, and 2019.

Esmail explained that his background as a second-generation American influenced his work. He said he often writes about characters who feel distant from others. After the success of Mr. Robot, Esmail started his own company, Esmail Corp.

Homecoming and Other Projects

Sam Esmail was an executive producer and director for the Amazon Video series Homecoming. This show starred Julia Roberts. It premiered in November 2018, and his directing received great reviews.

In 2018, Esmail also worked on creating the TV show Briarpatch. He was an executive producer for this show, which aired in 2020. The second season of Homecoming was also released in 2020.

In 2019, Esmail signed a deal for his company with Universal Content Productions. This deal led to many new projects. One of these was a limited series for Peacock called Angelyne. This show was released on May 19, 2022.

Recent Work

In 2020, Esmail sold two drama shows to ABC. He also produced a new TV series with Julia Roberts called Gaslit. This show was based on a podcast about the Watergate scandal. Production began in 2021, and it premiered on Starz in April 2022.

Also in 2020, it was announced that Esmail would direct a movie version of the novel Leave the World Behind for Netflix. This movie starred Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, and Ethan Hawke. Production started in April 2022. Barack and Michelle Obama's company, Higher Ground Productions, also joined as producers.

In June 2021, Peacock picked up The Resort. This is a dark comedy TV series about true crime stories at resorts. Esmail is an executive producer for this show. The eight-episode series began production in 2022.

In 2022, Apple ordered a TV series based on the classic 1927 sci-fi film Metropolis. Esmail was set to write, direct, and produce it. However, this project was canceled on June 18, 2023.

Projects in Development

Since 2018, Esmail has been working on a film with Universal Pictures and Mr. Robot star Rami Malek. The movie is based on a book called American Radical: Inside the World of an Undercover Muslim FBI Agent. It tells the story of a Muslim FBI agent after 9/11.

Esmail is also developing other TV series and films. These include The American Throne and a comedy series called False Alarm. He is also producing a scripted podcast series called This End Up.

Personal Life

Esmail and his wife Emmy Rossum in 2018

In August 2015, Sam Esmail got engaged to actress Emmy Rossum. They had been dating for two years. He had directed her in his first film, Comet. They got married on May 28, 2017, in New York City. They have two children: a daughter born in May 2021 and a son born in April 2023.

Esmail can speak Arabic fluently. He even gave part of his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes in Arabic.

Sam Esmail experiences social anxiety disorder. He has said that his wife, Emmy Rossum, has helped him with it. He lives in both New York City and Los Angeles.

Filmography

Movies

Television Shows

Awards and Nominations

Sam Esmail and his projects have won many awards. Here are some of them:

See also

In Spanish: Sam Esmail para niños