Lawrence Bender is a Hollywood film producer of Academy Award-winning films and box office hits that have grossed over $1 billion worldwide. His studio, Lawrence Bender Productions, was founded in 1989 and has produced numerous hits including three Oscar®-nominated films for Best Picture; Inglorious Basterds (2009), Good Will Hunting (1997), and Pulp Fiction (1994). An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary that Lawrence Bender produced about climate change, won the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature in 2006.

Altogether, films that Lawrence Bender produced have received 36 different Academy Award® nominations and won eight. These films have also been honored with other awards including ACCA Best Motion Picture Award for Inglorious Basterds and Pulp Fiction, BAFTA Nomination for Best Film for Pulp Fiction, and the 20/20 Awards Best Picture Nomination for Good Will Hunting. His most recent work includes the Netflix original ten-part series Seven Seconds (2018) and an eight-part series on Starz called Flesh and Bone (2015).

In addition to his production work, Lawrence Bender is also a passionate activist focused on social and political issues. He is one of the original founders of Global Zero, an organization of international leaders working to eliminate the use of nuclear weapons. In 2005, he was honored with the Torch of Liberty Award by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He also serves as Co-Chair of the Institute of Environment and Sustainability (IoES) at UCLA and has been on its board since 2008. Lawrence Bender was honored by the IoES in 2014 with its Environmental Excellence Award for his tireless work and dedication to the environment.

Lawrence Bender has served on the Creative Coalition Advisory Board and was honored in 2017 by the Los Angeles Ballet. He has been featured as a keynote speaker at a TED conference event and has served on Harvard’s Dean Council. His Alma mater, the University of Maine, recently awarded him with an honorary doctorate degree in recognition of his work within politics, activism, and environmentalism.