William Monahan was born on November 3, 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Departed (2006), London Boulevard (2010) and Edge of Darkness (2010). In the book "A Mind for Murder: Harvard and the Unabomber", by Alston Chase, William Monahan is identified as being the only person to solve the bomber's lexically-based targeting methodology before the Unabomber's capture. Won Pushcart Prize for literary short fiction, 1996. He also sold the novel "Light House: A Trifle" to the Penguin Putnam imprint Riverhead Books. Light House was optioned by Warner Brothers and Monahan wrote the script and became a WGA screenwriter when he was 35 years old. Was paid a mid-six figure sum for his original epic _Tripoli (2007)_ in the fall of 2000. That script landed him the deal to write the original screenplay Kingdom of Heaven (2005). Both were set up for Ridley Scott to direct. Monahan wrote three other screenplays for Scott.