Writing from Experience

Alumnus Javier Grillo-Marxuach’s Emmy-award winning storytelling entertains, educates and empowers

Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Javier Grillo-Marxuach’s >unlikely origin story involves Jedi, movie tickets and a light saber of inspiration.

“When I was seven years old, my parents took me to see ‘Star Wars,’ and it changed my life,” Javier says. “It filled me with this sense of energy and vitality, and there was just this palpable love of storytelling in that film. I decided I don't know what that is, but that's what I'm going to do, and I’ve spent the rest of my life pursuing it.”

He embarked on a Hollywood screenwriting, producing and showrunning career that now spans hundreds of television episodes, shows, movies, plays, a pair of Emmy Awards for “Lost” and “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance,” comic books, essays and a podcast.

Alongside all of those achievements and awards, Javier is something else, too — a mentor and an advocate committed to ensuring that everyone sees themselves and their life experiences reflected on screen.

Read more about Javier’s story