Samuel Garza Bernstein

Samuel Garza Bernstein was born to a Mexican mother and Eastern European Jewish father. He grew up all over the world, living in Cairo, Honolulu, Austin, Phoenix, Albuquerque, New York, Los Angeles, and Ft. Collins, Colorado, among other places. He began his career as an actor, after moving to New York at age 17, and studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Art and NYU. After performing primarily in musical theater, he began writing. He has written stage plays and musicals, television shows, movies, and books; directed theatre and television; and worked his way up the producing ranks to the title of co-executive producer -- while working in Los Angeles, New York, and London. In 1994 he met his husband, Ronald Shore. They were married in a non-legally binding ceremony performed by a rabbi in 1996, then legally married in Canada in 2003, and then, legally married again in the United States in 2013. He is a CASA volunteer (Court Appointed Special Advocate) to foster children, headed a mentoring program called Screen Students for LAUSD high school writers for ten years, and has worked with LGBTQIA+ youth throughout his adult life. Though credited as Samuel Bernstein for much of his career, he legally changed his last name in 2019 to honor his late mother by adding her maiden name.