Mamet, David (Alan) (1947– )

US dramatist, writer, and director. His plays use vivid, freewheeling language and urban settings. American Buffalo (1976; filmed 1996), about a gang of hopeless robbers, was his first major success. Glengarry Glen Ross (1983; filmed 1992), a dark depiction of US business ethics, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1984. He made his film-making debut directing House of Games (1987). Other films include The Spanish Prisoner (1997) and State and Main (2000).

Among Mamet's other plays are Sexual Perversity in Chicago (1974), Speed-the-Plow (1988), Oleanna (1992), and Cryptogram (1994). He wrote the screenplays for The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), The Verdict (1982), The Untouchables (1987), Rising Sun (1993), and Wag the Dog (1997). He wrote and directed Things Change (1987) and Heist (2001), and directed The Winslow Boy (1999).

In 2000 he published a collection of essays, Jafsie and John Henry, and a novel, Wilson: A Consideration of the Sources.