Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an award-winning, prolific, and best-selling American author, screenwriter, columnist, actor, producer and director. He is best known for his work as a horror author and has a thorough knowledge of the genre, but has also written sci-fi, fantasy, short-fiction, non-fiction, screenplays, teleplays and stageplays. Many of his stories have been adapted for other media, including movies, television series, and comic books. King has written a number of books using the pen name Richard Bachman and one where he was credited as John Swithen. In 2003 he received The National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital is a thirteen-episode miniseries based on Lars von Trier's "The Kingdom" (aka Riget), which was developed by horror writer Stephen King in 2004 for American television. It was first aired on ABC on March 3 and was scheduled to conclude on July 15, 2004. The show airing was put on hold during NBA playoffs half way through, but resumed airing on June 24, and concluded mid-August.

Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King is an 8-episode anthology series on TNT based on short stories written by Stephen King. It debuted on July 12, 2006, and ended its run on August 2, 2006. Although most of them are from the collection of the same name, there are some stories from different collections by King. A trailer confirming a DVD release of the series was made available in October 2006. The series was filmed entirely in Melbourne, Australia.

Episodes based on stories from the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection are "Umney's Last Case", "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band", "The End of the Whole Mess", "The Fifth Quarter" and "Crouch End."

The balance of episodes are adaptations of "The Road Virus Heads North" and "Autopsy Room Four", collected in Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales, and "Battleground" from the anthology Night Shift. Stars include Tom Berenger, William H. Macy, Kim Delaney, Ron Livingston, and William Hurt.

Shocking and frightening tale of a haunted hospital that was built over an ancient graveyard. The doctors have put all their faith into science and technology, and are dismissive of any suggestion of mysticism or unseen powers...at their own peril. Written by Cappella -NL-

Psychic Sally Druse (Ladd) fakes illnesses to gain admission to earthquake-plagued Kingdom Hospital, armed with beliefs that it's haunted. Discovering that the soul of a little girl wanders the halls, Sally must find out why she hasn't passed over, and to do that, she must somehow find out how to convince the hospital staff. Otherwise the supernaturally-fueled earthquakes will destroy the hospital and everything in its path. Written by Morticon

An eight episode adaptation of Stephen King's short stories, primarily from the Nightmares and Dreamscapes series. "Battleground" follows a quiet hitman becoming a target for violent revenge when he finds a mysterious package on his doorstep; A young woman and her attorney husband getting lost in a notoriously evil London neighborhood named "Crouch End"; "Umney's Last Case" is a 1930's era detective who realizes he's the main character in a novel, and he's being written out; A successful filmmaker films himself in "The End of the Whole Mess", recalling his genius brother's life and the scientific plan he applied to end world violence with unanticipated results; "The Road Virus Heads North" drives into gear as a celebrated writer realizes the demonic figure in the painting he's just acquired, is changing to show that it's onto the same stretch of road he's on; "The Fifth Quarter" has an ex-convict who goes to dastardly means to find treasure that puts his family's life at risk; "Autopsy Room Four" is the occupancy of a man whose about to witness his own autopsy and he's speechless to stop it; A husband and wife on a spontaneous road trip, whose stopover in a town inhabited by late music legends, might not be temporary when they're told "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band". Written by mystic80

Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947, at the Maine General Hospital in Portland. His parents were Donald Edwin King and Ruth Pillsbury King. He was the only natural-born child in the family, his older brother David having been adopted at birth two years earlier. The Kings were the typical family until one night when Donald said he was stepping out for cigarettes and was never heard from again. Ruth took over raising the family with help from relatives. They traveled throughout many states over several years, finally moving back to Durham, Maine, in 1958. Stephen began his actual writing career in January of 1959, when David and Stephen decided to publish their own local newspaper named "Dave's Rag". David bought a mimeograph machine, and they put together a paper they sold for five cents an issue. Stephen attended Lisbon High School, in Lisbon, Maine, in 1962. Collaborating with his best friend Chris Chesley in 1963, they published a collection of 18 short stories called "People, Places, and Things--Volume I". King's stories included "Hotel at the End of the Road", "I've Got to Get Away!", "The Dimension Warp", "The Thing at the Bottom of the Well", "The Stranger", "I'm Falling", "The Cursed Expedition", and "The Other Side of the Fog." A year later, King's amateur press Triad and Gaslight Books, published a two-part book titled "The Star Invaders". King made his first actual published appearance in 1965 in the magazine Comics Review with his story "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber." The story ran about 6,000 words in length. In 1966 he graduated from high school and took a scholarship to attend the University of Maine. Looking back on his high school days, King recalled that "my high school career was totally undistinguished. I was not at the top of my class, nor at the bottom." Later that summer King began working on a novel called "Getting It On", about some kids who take over a classroom and try unsuccessfully to ward off the National Guard. During his first year at college, King completed his first full-length novel, "The Long Walk." He submitted the novel to Bennett Cerf/Random House only to have it rejected. King took the rejection badly and filed the book away. He made his first small sale--$35--with the story "The Glass Floor". In June 1970 King graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelor of Science degree in English and a certificate to teach high school. King's next idea came from the poem by Robert Browning (I), "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." He found bright colored green paper in the library and began work on "The Dark Tower" saga, but his chronic shortage of money meant that he was unable to further pursue the novel, and it, too, was filed away. King took a job at a filling station pumping gas, for the princely sum of $1.25 an hour. Soon he began to earn money for his writings by submitting his short stories to men's magazines such as Cavalier. On January 2, 1971, he married Tabitha King (born Tabitha Jane Spruce). In the fall of 1971 King took a teaching job at Hampden Academy, earning $6,400 a year. The Kings then moved to Hermon, a town west of Bangor, Maine. Stephen then began work on a short story about a teenage girl named Carietta White. After a completing a few pages, he decided it was not a worthy story and crumpled the pages up and tossed them into the trash. Fortunately, Tabitha took the pages out and read them. She encouraged her husband to continue the story, which he did. In January 1973 he submitted "Carrie" to Doubleday. In March Doubleday bought the book. On May 12 the publisher sold the paperback rights for the novel to New American Library for $400,000. His contract called for his getting half of that sum, and he quit his teaching job to pursue writing full time. The rest, as they say, is history. Since then, King has had numerous short stories and novels published and movies made from his work. He has been called the "Master of Horror". His books have been translated into 33 different languages, published in over 35 different countries. There are over 300 million copies of his novels in publication. He continues to live in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, and writes out of his home. In June 1999, Stephen King was severely injured in an accident that left him in critical condition with injuries to his lung, broken ribs, a broken leg and a severely fractured hip. After three weeks of operations, he was released from the Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine.