Barry Lee Levinson is an American filmmaker, comedian and actor. Levinson’s best-known works are mid-budget comedy-drama and drama films such as Diner (1982); The Natural (1984); Good Morning, Vietnam (1987); Bugsy (1991); and Wag the Dog (1997). He won the Academy Award for Best Director for Rain Man (1988).

In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries Dopesick and directed the first two episodes. Levinson, in 2011, was developing a film based on Whitey Bulger, the Boston crime boss.

The film Black Mass (script by Jim Sheridan, Jez Butterworth, and Russell Gewirtz) is based on the book by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill, and it is said to be the “true story of Billy Bulger, Whitey Bulger, FBI agent John Connelly and the FBI’s witness protection program created by J. Edgar Hoover.” Levinson later left the project.

Levinson finished production on The Humbling (2014), starring Al Pacino. Levinson also directed Rock the Kasbah (2015), written by Mitch Glazer.

Barry Levinson Siblings: Meet Sharon Ziman

Sharon Ziman is the sister of Barry Levinson. Sharon is also an actress but not as popular as his brother. Sharon Ziman is known for Diner (1982), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and Tin Men (1987).

Along with Richard Belzer, Kyle Secor, Clark Johnson and Yaphet Kotto, she is one of only five actors to appear in both the first and last episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street (1993): Homicide: Life on the Street: Gone for Goode (1993) and Homicide: Life on the Street: Forgive Us Our Trespasses (1999). She is the only woman and the only guest star to do so.

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