Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro is an American conservative political commentator, author, attorney and media executive. He is best known as a co-founder of the conservative media company The Daily Wire and as the host of "The Ben Shapiro Show," a widely distributed political podcast and radio program.

Early life

Benjamin Aaron Shapiro was born on January 15, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, into an Orthodox Jewish family. He was identified as academically gifted at a young age and advanced quickly through school. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and later graduated from Harvard Law School. He began writing a nationally syndicated newspaper column while still a teenager, making him one of the youngest syndicated columnists in the United States.

Career

Shapiro built his early reputation as a columnist and author, publishing books on politics, media and culture from a conservative perspective. He worked as an editor-at-large at Breitbart News before departing the organization in 2016. That year he co-founded The Daily Wire, which grew into one of the more prominent conservative digital media outlets, producing news, opinion, podcasts and video content.

"The Ben Shapiro Show" became a high-ranking political podcast, known for its rapid-fire delivery and its host's emphasis on debate and argument. Shapiro became widely recognized for campus speaking appearances and televised and online debates, and his confrontational style made him a frequently discussed figure in American political media. He is a practicing Orthodox Jew and has often connected his commentary to religious, historical and philosophical themes, arguing that Western civilization rests on a combination of Judeo-Christian and classical traditions. Across his books and broadcasts he has addressed subjects ranging from constitutional law and economics to media criticism and cultural debates.

Recent work

Shapiro has continued to host his daily program and to write books on political and cultural topics, several of which have appeared on national bestseller lists. The Daily Wire expanded under his and his partners' leadership into entertainment production and additional commentary programming, building out a roster of hosts and original content as part of an effort to create a conservative alternative to mainstream media and Hollywood. He remains a prominent and polarizing voice in conservative media, regularly weighing in on US elections, free-speech controversies and debates over media bias and campus politics. He has been involved in public discussions about the direction of the American conservative movement and has both aligned with and criticized various political figures. His work has drawn both a large following and significant criticism, reflecting his role as one of the more visible and influential figures in contemporary American political commentary.