In contrast to his verbal characters, screenwriter-producer Charlie Kaufman is close-lipped about his own life and background. Taking great pains to avoid allowing any personal detail slip out ("I don't like talking about myself"), he has deigned to let a few details come to light. "I grew up in the equivalent of Levittown" he told salon.com while a September 15, 1999 Variety profile touting him as one of "10 Scribes to Watch" mentions he graduated from NYU's film school. Beyond that, Kaufman clearly prefers to allow his work to speak for itself.

After knocking around NYC for a while struggling