Neil Druckmann is an Israeli-American writer, creative director, designer, and programmer who has been co-president (alongside Evan Wells) of the video game developer Naughty Dog since 2020. He is also a TV writer, director, and producer. Druckmann was born on December 5, 1978 in Tel Aviv, Israel, and he currently lives in Santa Monica, California. He holds dual Israeli and American citizenship. He is best known for his work on the Naughty Dog game franchises Uncharted and The Last of Us, having created the latter. He is also co-creator (alongside Craig Main) of HBO's 2023 TV adaptation of The Last of Us, where he also serves as executive producer, writer, and director.
Druckmann's first video game work came as an intern at Naughty Dog. In 2004, he became a programmer on Jak 3 (2004) and Jak X: Combat Racing (2005), before becoming a designer for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (2007). He was co-lead game designer for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009), which he co-wrote with Amy Hennig and Josh Scherr; the narrative was praised and received several accolades. He has also written comics, including the motion comic Uncharted: Eye of Indra (2009) and the graphic novels A Second Chance at Sarah (2010) and The Last of Us: American Dreams (2013).
Druckmann led the development of The Last of Us (2013) as writer and creative director, roles he continued for The Last of Us: Left Behind (2014) and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (2016), co-writing the latter with Scherr. All three games were directed by Bruce Straley, with whom Druckmann developed a close working relationship.
Druckmann was promoted to vice president of Naughty Dog in 2018 during the development of The Last of Us Part II (2020), for which he was creative director and co-writer with Halley Gross, and was promoted to co-president in 2020. He has earned praise for his writing and directing work on The Last of Us, Uncharted 4, and The Last of Us Part II. The games are often regarded as among the best written and have been listed as some of the greatest video games ever made. Druckmann has received several awards, including three British Academy Games Awards, four D.I.C.E. Awards, two Game Awards, three Game Developers Choice Awards, and four Writers Guild of America Awards.
