Biography
Jan Sardi is an Australian screenwriter. Born in Melbourne in 1953, he trained as a teacher, graduating with a Bachelor of Education from Melbourne State College in 1978, before leaving the profession in 1983 to write full time.
His early screenplays include Moving Out (1983) and Street Hero (1984). He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Shine (1996), directed by Scott Hicks. Sardi adapted the novel by Nicholas Sparks for The Notebook (2004) and Li Cunxin's memoir for Mao's Last Dancer (2009). He also wrote and directed Love's Brother (2004) and co-wrote the miniseries The Secret River (2015). In 2020 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to the film and television industries.
