Eric Bogosian was born in Boston and grew up in Woburn, Massachusetts. He attended the University of Chicago and graduated from Oberlin College in 1976. After moving to New York City, he was hired by the Kitchen as an assistant and established a dance series there.
Bogosian wrote, directed, and/or starred in over sixteen Off-Off-Broadway productions between 1976 and 1982. In the early 1980s, he became well-known for his intense one-man theater pieces, winning the Obie Award three times and the Drama Desk Award.
In 1983, Bogosian was cast in the low-budget film Special Effects, followed by the Pulitzer-nominated play Talk Radio, which was adapted into a film in 1988. He received the prestigious "Silver Bear" at the 1989 Berlin Festival for his work on the film.
Bogosian continued to work as an actor in film and television, while remaining active in the theater. He co-starred in Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, Dolores Claiborne, and staged another one-man show Off-Broadway. He also authored the play subUrbia, which was adapted into a film by director Richard Linklater.
In the 1990s, Bogosian continued to write for film and TV, adapting his own work and receiving assignments from studios. He began to write for television when he was invited to co-create a show for Steven Spielberg. As an actor, he co-starred with Val Kilmer in Wonderland and appeared in over sixty episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
In 2010, Bogosian starred on Broadway in Time Stands Still with Laura Linney, Brian d'Arcy James, Alicia Silverstone, and Christina Ricci. He created a website featuring his numerous monologues performed by notable actors, 100monologues.com.
More recently, Bogosian landed a series of featured television roles on Netflix's The Get Down, Showtime's Billions, and as Senator Gil Eavis on HBO's Succession. He has also been featured in Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie's Uncut Gems, starring Adam Sandler.
Bogosian is the author of three novels, "Mall", "Wasted Beauty", and "Perforated Heart", as well as a non-fiction history, Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide. He lives in New York City with his wife, director Jo Bonney, and their two children, Travis and Harry.