Robert Schenkkan

Schenkkan was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the son of Jean Gregory (née McKenzie) and Robert Frederic Schenkkan, a professor in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin, and public television executive. He grew up in Austin, Texas. As a Plan II Honors student he received a B.A. in Drama, magna cum laude, from the University of Texas, Austin in 1975 (Phi Beta Kappa, Friars' Society, UT Texas Exes Distinguished Young Alumnus Award and E. William Doty College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumnus Award), and an M.F.A. in Theatre Arts from Cornell University in 1977. For many years, he lived in New York City and then Los Angeles, California, working both as a writer and an actor in film, television, and theatre. Since 1990 he has focused exclusively on his writing and divides his time between New York City and Seattle. Schenkkan is of Dutch-Jewish (fa…