So, you know that moment when you’re watching The West Wing, marveling at those rapid-fire walk-and-talks, and then you flip to CNBC and hear a guy with the same last name dissecting market chaos? Yeah, me too. It makes you wonder: are Aaron Sorkin and Andrew Ross Sorkin related?
Spoiler alert: they are not brothers. They aren’t cousins, either. The universe just decided to give us two wildly famous Sorkins who work in completely different corners of storytelling.
The Fast-Talker vs. The Money Guy
Aaron Sorkin is the guy who writes The Social Network and The Newsroom. He loves characters who walk fast, talk faster, and always win the argument. Andrew Ross Sorkin is the guy who wrote Too Big to Fail and breaks down stock market panic on live TV. One creates drama; the other reports on it.
Must Read
And yet, their names are a constant source of confusion. I once heard someone say, “I love that Sorkin fellow on MSNBC.” That’s like saying you love Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice while actually watching Bridgerton. Close, but no carriage ride.
The truth? They share a last name and a knack for being incredibly articulate. That’s about it. Aaron is from New York City, born in 1961. Andrew is from... wait for it... New York City, born in 1977. So they’re both New York Jews who excel at their respective crafts. Coincidence? Probably. But it’s a fun one.
The Great Sorkin Mix-Up
Here’s where it gets hilarious. People constantly confuse them. Imagine being Andrew Ross Sorkin, trying to explain a boring interest rate hike, and a viewer tweets at you, “WRITE A SEASON 5 OF STUDIO 60 RIGHT NOW.” That tweet is getting deleted, my friend.
Or poor Aaron, giving a masterclass on dialogue, and a fan asks him, “What’s your take on the Fed’s quantitative easing?” He probably just smiles and walks backwards into a door, because that’s what his characters do.
Beyond the Screen with Andrew Ross Sorkin | NBCUniversal Together
They’ve even joked about it. Aaron once said he gets emails meant for Andrew asking about stock tips. Andrew once said he gets scripts meant for Aaron. It’s like a permanent, high-stakes game of mistaken identity, but with better grammar.
What Each Sorkin Brings to the Table
Aaron Sorkin is the poet laureate of the smartest person in the room. His dialogue is a caffeine-fueled rocket. He can make you care deeply about a baseball statistics argument or a Supreme Court nomination. He is, frankly, a bit of a show-off, and we love him for it.
Andrew Ross Sorkin is the guy who actually knows what the smartest person in the room is buying or selling. He’s a journalist, a New York Times columnist, and a co-creator of CNBC’s Squawk Box. He’s the one who got Jamie Dimon to admit something interesting during the 2008 crisis.
One Sorkin writes monologues about morality. The other writes monologues about market volatility. They’re both obsessed with systems—one, the human system of ambition and regret; the other, the financial system of greed and panic.
Andrew Ross Sorkin and former Speaker of the U.S. House of... News
So, Are They Related? The Final Word
No. Not by blood. Not by marriage. They are only connected by a shared surname and the fact that you, the reader, have probably mixed them up at least once. I won’t shame you for it. I’ve done it, too.
Think of them as two different trees in the same forest of genius. One writes the script, the other writes the after-action report. They are the yin and yang of American expertise. Or maybe just two guys who had the good luck to be born “Sorkin” at a time when that name would become synonymous with verbal dominance.
Here’s my favorite part: they are friends. Or at least friendly. They’ve appeared on panels together. They smile at the confusion. They know the mix-up is a wonderful, cosmic joke. So next time you say “Sorkin,” just clarify: “Do I mean the one who makes me feel smart, or the one who makes me feel poor?”
Both are excellent. Just don’t ask one to write a script for a CNBC segment. And definitely don’t ask the other to fact-check a line about derivatives. That’s the beautiful, chaotic line they’ve drawn themselves.
Now, go forth and impress your friends at the next dinner party. “Actually,” you’ll say, sipping your coffee, “the Sorkins are not related. But wouldn’t it be amazing if Andrew Ross wrote a play about Aaron’s career?” Okay, maybe not. But it’s fun to think about. Cheers.