Bruno Heller - Life and Career

Life and Career

Growing up in London, England, he internalized both the fascination and dread of the craft. His father, the German immigrant Lukas Heller, was a screenwriter responsible for a couple of Hollywood's films like Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. His mother was Caroline (née Carter). She was English and a Quaker and was instrumental in keeping up the Labour Party's "Save London Transport Campaign". Heller credits his father's success with likely keeping him from becoming a writer for many years. Bruno has three siblings. His sister Zoë Heller, columnist and writer, has published three novels, including Notes on a Scandal. Nevertheless, for Bruno writing was something of a last resort.

Before venturing into his writing career, Bruno Heller graduated from The University of Sussex in Brighton. Bruno's early film career was rather unglamorous. He was a union soundman working in England in the 1980s when film sets were staunchly hierarchical. While working as a soundman on a series of films about England's infamous Miners' Strike, Heller met well-regarded Portuguese director Eduardo Guedes. The two teamed up on what would become Heller's first writing credit, the 1994 film PAX starring Amanda Plummer. (“Pax” is the acronym for the Portuguese epitaph on gravestones.)

Heller left England for New York, where he would meet his wife, Miranda, at a disco. They have two sons. After five years in New York, Heller moved to Los Angeles, where he got work on various television dramas including two television projects for the USA Network: Touching Evil and The Huntress. But his breakthrough came with Rome, which he co-created. After the cancellation of that series for its high costs, Heller created The Mentalist. In September 2012, it was reported that Heller sold a legal drama named The Advocates to CBS, which will be written and executive produced by him.