Patrick Burleigh is an American screenwriter, playwright, and essayist.^[1] He is best known as a screenwriter for Eternals, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, and Ant-Man and the Wasp.^[2] Burleigh grew up in New York City and Los Angeles before attending Dartmouth College and Trinity College Dublin.^[1][3] In 2015, he sold his screenplay adaptation of Nicholas Griffin’s book Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World to Village Roadshow Pictures.^[2][4]

In 2016, Burleigh was accepted into the Marvel Writer’s Program for Marvel Studios.^[2] Upon graduating from the program, Burleigh began writing reshoot material for Ant-Man and the Wasp before working with director Chloé Zhao to write the shooting script for Eternals, both for Marvel Studios.^[5] During this time, Burleigh also co-wrote the screenplay for Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway from Sony Pictures.^[6] In 2021, he was nominated for an Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award (AACTA) in the Best Adapted Screenplay in Film category for Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.^[7][8] In 2017, Burleigh won the Humanitas Play LA Award, and he received an Honorable Mention in the Best Adapted Screenplay category at the 2022 Gold List Awards for Eternals.^[9][10]

Burleigh has written for publications such as New York (magazine) and Men’s Health.^[3][11] In 2019, Burleigh wrote an essay for New York describing his childhood living with a genetic mutation of the luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotropin receptor (LHCGR), also known as testotoxicosis or familial male-limited precocious puberty.^[3][12][13] The mutation, which is hereditary and was passed down through Burleigh’s father’s family line, triggered an early puberty in Burleigh at two years of age.^[3]