Bruno Heller

Bruno Heller is a writer and producer working in television. Heller was born in London in 1960, the son of the German-born screenwriter Lukas Heller, who co-wrote the screenplay for the 1967 classic war film "The Dirty Dozen." Heller's first script was for the 1994 Portuguese film "Pax," which starred Amanda Plummer. After going script-less for the remainder of the '90s, Heller wrote a couple of teleplays in 2000, and then at last in 2005 he broke through when he co-created the HBO historical epic "Rome," a series that dispensed with big-name actors in its recounting of the final days of the Roman Empire, through the perspective of both the small and the mighty.

The series ran two seasons, and Heller contributed writing to all 22 episodes. A year after "Rome" ended in 2007, Heller alone created the CBS crime-thriller "The Mentalist," starring the Australian Simon Baker in the lead role of Patrick Jane, a mentalist-turned-private detective who uses his skills to aid the police. Baker earned a 2009 lead actor Emmy nomination for the role, and Heller was the head writer for every episode.