Biography
David Koepp (; born June 9, 1963) is an American screenwriter and director. He is the fourth most successful screenwriter of all time in terms of U.S. box office receipts with a total gross of over $2.97 billion.
He is known for a variety of screenplays, including those of the Steven Spielberg–directed films Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), War of the Worlds (2005), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) and Disclosure Day (2026). Other Koepp screenplays include those for the crime film Carlito's Way (1993); the action spy films Mission: Impossible (1996) and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014); the superhero film Spider-Man (2002); another Indiana Jones film, The Dial of Destiny (2023); and another Jurassic Park film, Jurassic World Rebirth (2025).
Koepp has also directed seven feature films: The Trigger Effect (1996), Stir of Echoes (1999), Secret Window (2004), Ghost Town (2008), Premium Rush (2012), Mortdecai (2015), and You Should Have Left (2020).
== Early life ==
Koepp was born in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, as the youngest of four children to Margaret (Fairfield), a family therapist, and Donald Koepp, who owned a billboard company.
Originally studying to become an actor, first at the University of Minnesota for one year and afterwards at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for two years, he enrolled in the film school of the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1984. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in film from UCLA in 1990.
== Career ==
=== 1990s and 2000s ===
As a writer, Koepp worked on blockbuster Hollywood films such as Jurassic Park with Steven Spielberg, Mission: Impossible with Brian De Palma and Spider-Man with Sam Raimi.
Koepp had a cameo appearance as the "Unlucky Bastard", a minor character devoured by a T. rex that roams San Diego in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which he co-wrote and for which he was a second unit director.