Biography

John Guare was born on February 5, 1938 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for Atlantic City (1980), Taking Off (1971) and Six Degrees of Separation (1993).

He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1993 (1992 season) and BBC Award for Best Play for his "Six Degrees of Separation".

John Guare was nominated for the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play "Six Degrees of Separation".

He was awarded an Honorary Masters of Fine Arts Degree from the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, California.

He was awarded an Honorary Master of Fine Arts Degree in 2009 from the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, California.

His play, "Muzeeka" on off-Broadway in New York City was awarded the 1968 OBIE Award for Distinguished Production.

[re Six Degrees of Separation (1993)] I was the one who got to choose who got to direct it. I got a chance to meet a lot of directors. I auditioned them. I was shocked by what they wanted to do to the play, like straightening out the chronology. [Fred Schepisi] said he loved the play and wanted to follow the play. The only caveat MGM put on the movie was we had to cast Will Smith. I said, very grandly: A sitcom star in my play? Fred and I each went to meet Will. I went backstage to the dressing room of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990) and within three minutes I realized he was Paul. Imagine, 35 million people let this guy into their house once a week. I was entranced. It was very satisfying.