Directory Profile

Born in Romania to renowned artist parents – father, Eugen a writer, mother, Maria an actress – Alex Rotaru began his career in entertainment, earning Romania’s highest national honor for young actors before moving to the U.S. to pursue a degree in Physics at MIT, where he graduated at the top of his class. After a short stint at Paris Sorbonne reawoke his love of Cinema, he earned an MFA in Film from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with top distinctions.

As a filmmaker, Alex has directed acclaimed documentaries, including They Came to Play (New York Times Critic’s Pick) and Shakespeare High (SHOWTIME Networks), produced by Dana Brunetti, Dean Devlin, and Kevin Spacey. A recipient of the Christopher Award for PBS POV’s The Hobart Shakespeareans, he is celebrated for eliciting profound emotional depth from his subjects, as seen in collaborations with U.S. Poet Laureates including 2020 Literature Nobel Prize winner Louise Glück, and in his current work on the biography of a recent Nobel Prize winner in Medicine and Physiology.

Alex has served as a U.S. Department of State Cultural Ambassador, conducting global cultural exchanges in Kazakhstan, Angola, Lebanon, El Salvador, Cyprus, and beyond.

Currently, Alex is in post-production on Missing Time, a sci-fi thriller exploring the reliability of memory, as well as two feature-length documentaries: Mona/Lisa, about Holocaust survivor Mona Golabek, and A.I. Spy, chronicling Valerie Plame’s post-CIA career and the intersection of AI and intelligence. His third biographical documentary, Elvis, Rocky & Me, highlights Oscar-nominated songwriter Carol Connors.

He frequently is a juror for international film and theater festivals, most recently at the 2024 Austin International Film Festival.

An accomplished director, actor, and writer, Alex teaches Film Directing at USC and continues to create across mediums.

He lives in Beverly Hills with his son, Max.