David Sheff (born December 23, 1955) is an American author of the books '' Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction'', ''Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Tragedy'',Sussman, Mick (April 19, 2013)
"A Disease, Not a Crime"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. '' Game Over'',''The Buddhist on Death Row'' and ''All We Are Saying: The Last Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono''. He also writes for magazines and newspapers, including

New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

and other publications.

Early life and education

Sheff is originally from Boston, Massachusetts. His family is of

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...

descent. He graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Career

Sheff, a journalist, wrote articles and conducted interviews for ''

'', ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'', ''

'', ''Fortune'', and National Public Radio's ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

''. His interview subjects have included

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...

Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly c ...

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

, Ted Taylor,

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...

Betty Friedan Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...

Barney Frank Barnett Frank (born March 31, 1940) is a former American politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013. A Democrat, Frank served as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee ...

, and

Fareed Zakaria Fareed Rafiq Zakaria (; born 20 January 1964) is an Indian-American journalist, political commentator, and author. He is the host of CNN's ''Fareed Zakaria GPS'' and writes a weekly paid column for ''The Washington Post.'' He has been a columnist ...

, among others. In addition to ''Beautiful Boy'', Sheff wrote the books '' Game Over'', ''Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Crisis'', ''China Dawn'', and ''All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono''. He has also been an editor of ''New West'', ''California'', and other magazines.David Sheff's home page
Author's bio ''Beautiful Boy'' was based on Sheff's article, "My Addicted Son", that first appeared in the ''

''. In January 2019, ''High: Everything You Want to Know About Drugs, Alcohol, and Addiction'' was published. A resource for middle-school readers offering clear, direct information about the realities of drugs and alcohol, it is Sheff and his son Nic's first collaborative project. In 2019, Sheff founded the Beautiful Boy Fund, a charity devoted to making quality, evidence-based treatment for substance-use disorder accessible to those in need of treatment, and identifying and supporting research to further the field of addiction medicine.

Honors and awards

In 2009, Sheff was included in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine's ''Time'' 100 and on the magazine's World's Most Influential People list. ''Beautiful Boy'' won the

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...

"Discover Great New Writers Award" for nonfiction and was an Amazon Best Book of the Year in 2008. The article in which the book is based won an award for "Outstanding Contribution to Advancing the Understanding of Addictions" from the Society of Addiction Psychology. He received media awards from

College on Problems of Drug Dependence The College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) is a professional society in the United States addressing problems in addiction and substance use. History CPDD was originally established in 1929 by the Bureau of Social Hygiene as a ‘Committ ...

(CPDD),

American Society of Addiction Medicine The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), founded in 1954, is a professional medical society representing over 6,000 physicians, clinicians and associated professionals in the field of addiction medicine. ASAM is dedicated to increasing ...

, the

Partnership for Drug-free Kids Partnership to End Addiction, first known as the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) then later as the Partnership at DrugFree.org, and The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, is a New York City-based non-profit organization which runs campaig ...

, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP),

(ASAM), and was the first recipient of the

American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry The American Academy for Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) is a professional organization and an accredited Continuing Medical Education (CME) provider, based in East Providence, Rhode Island, USA. Its members are specialists in addiction psychiatry an ...

(AAAP) Arts and Literature Award.

Views on addiction

Sheff educates about addiction as a brain disease and is an advocate for putting addicts into therapy programs early. He believes life stresses and traumas are risk factors, and that therapy for these can help addiction prevention. He is an advocate of life skills training to aid addiction prevention.

Personal life

Sheff lives in

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

with his wife, Karen Barbour, an artist, illustrator, and author of children's books. He has three children: Nic, Jasper, and Daisy Sheff. Nic Sheff, who has also written a memoir recounting his years of addiction in the book ''Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines'', is a writer for television and film. Jasper Sheff is a Grammy Award-nominated musician who has cowritten and produced songs for

Lil Nas X Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his country rap single " Old Town Road", which first achieved viral popula ...

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

, Halsey and

XXXTentacion Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy (January 23, 1998 – June 18, 2018), known professionally as XXXTentacion, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Though a controversial figure due to his widely publicized legal troubles, XXXTentacion ga ...

Daisy Sheff Daisy, Daisies or DAISY may refer to: Plants * ''Bellis perennis'', the common daisy, lawn daisy or English daisy, a European species Other plants known as daisy * Asteraceae, daisy family ** ''Euryops chrysanthemoides'', African bush daisy ** '' ...

is an artist whose paintings have been exhibited a
White Columns Gallery
Ratio 3, Clearing Gallery, Grimm Gallery and elsewhere.

In popular culture

In 2018, Felix van Groeningen adapted Sheff's book ''Beautiful Boy'' into a feature film of the same name. In the film, Sheff is portrayed by

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott (The Office), Michael Scott in ''The Office (American TV series), The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the The Office (B ...

, with

Timothée Chalamet Timothée Hal Chalamet (; ; born December 27, 1995) is an American actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Timothée Chalamet, various accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a ...

as his son, Nic. Actress

Maura Tierney Maura Therese Tierney (born February 3, 1965) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She is best known for her roles as Lisa Miller on the sitcom ''NewsRadio'' (1995–1999), Abby Lockhart on the medical drama '' ER'' (1999–2009), ...

portrays David's wife, artist Karen Barbour, and

Amy Ryan Amy Beth Dziewiontkowski, known professionally as Amy Ryan, is an American actress of stage and screen. A graduate of New York's High School of Performing Arts, she is an Academy Award nominee and two-time Tony Award nominee. Ryan began her pr ...

plays Nic's mother, Vicki.

References

External links

*
"My Addicted Son"
by David Sheff – ''New York Times'' article that preceded his full-length memoir, ''Beautiful Boy''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheff, David American male non-fiction writers Writers from Boston Living people University of California, Berkeley alumni American memoirists Writers on addiction American people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish American writers 1955 births 21st-century American Jews