Samuel D. Hunter

Samuel D. Hunter (born 1981) is an American playwright living in New York City. Hunter was born in Pullman, Washington and raised in Moscow, Idaho. He is best known for plays A Bright New Boise, which won the 2011 Obie Award for playwriting, and The Whale, which won the 2013 Drama Desk Award and the 2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play. He is also the recipient of a 2014 MacArthur Fellowship. He has also been a guest lecturer at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, Fordham University, and other universities. In 2026, Hunter received his first nomination for the Tony Award for Best Play for Little Bear Ridge Road, which ran on Broadway in 2025 starring Laurie Metcalf. Hunter is also a writer and producer for the television show Baskets. A film adaptation of The Whale, written by Hunter and directed by Darren Aronofsky, was released in December 2022 and received two Academy Awards.