Phil Rosenthal is an American television writer and producer with a net worth of approximately $200 million. He's best known for Everybody Loves Raymond which he created, executive produced, and wrote. The show ran for ten years between 1996-2005 and starred Ray Romano as Raymond. Romano also co-produced the series, and it was partly based on his comedy material. Phil Rosenthal's wife, the actress Monica Horan, also featured in the show as Amy MacDougall-Barone, girlfriend and later wife of Robert Barone (played by Brad Garrett). Rosenthal is credited as a writer or co-writer on 21 episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond. After more than 210 episodes and nine seasons, with a following of more than 33 million viewers, Rosenthal and Romano took the decision to retire the series after cast members expressed concerns over the show's future.

Born to German Jewish parents in Queens, New York on 27th January 1960, he spent most of his formative years in New City, Rockland County, New York. His father fled Germany during the 1930s to escape the Nazis, and his mother is a survivor of Nazi concentration camps who came to America with her mother after World War 2. Phil was influenced by his father's love of Jewish comedy as a child and spent a lot of his childhood watching TV, which he credits, alongside his parents, for building his creative talents.

Phil Rosenthal graduated from Hofstra University in 1981 with a degree in acting and moved to New York City to pursue an acting career. He worked as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where he gained lots of inspiration for later comedy scripts. In 1988 he teamed up with a friend and submitted a script for Roseanne based on his experiences working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The script didn't get bought for Roseanne, but it gained Rosenthal an agent and a break into TV scriptwriting. He was soon writing for various TV sitcoms, including Coach and Baby Talk before creating Everybody Loves Raymond in the mid-nineties.

Married to Monica Horan since 1990, the couple has two children together - Lily and Ben, who are both actors. Rosenthal and Horan's marriage was the inspiration for many episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond. They originally met when Phil saw Monica in a play in the mid-80s and was entranced by her performance. They later found themselves part of the same comedy troupe and bonded over the fact they were both alumni of Hofstra University.

The couple lives in Los Angeles in an 11-bed, 7-bath, 7,755 square ft property which they bought for $4.685 million in August 2005. Their previous home was a 6-bed, 7-bath house built in 1936 which they sold in 2007 for $5.85 million.

Since Everybody Loves Raymond brought him fame and success, Rosenthal has also acted in several movies, including Spanglish and The Simpson's Movie, as well as TV acting for Curb Your Enthusiasm and 30 Rock. He's the author of You're Lucky You're Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom, which was published in October 2006 and recounts how his life experiences led to the success of Everybody Loves Raymond. 

He's also written and directed a number of political and charitable projects, including a White House Correspondents Dinner video featuring then-president Bill Clinton and the 9/11 telethon America: A Tribute to Heroes, which won a Peabody Award and an Emmy nomination for outstanding writing. He also wrote and directed a documentary film for Sony Pictures, Exporting Raymond, which chronicled his attempt to adapt Everybody Loves Raymond for a Russian audience, despite having little knowledge or experience of Russian culture.

In 2015 his six-episode series I'll Have What Phil's Having aired on PBS. IT wasn't renewed but was bought and reworked by Netflix, with Somebody Feed Phil premiering on January 12, 2018. Off the back of the show, the Rosenthal Family Foundation - his charitable foundation - launched a national campaign in 2020 called "Somebody Feed the People" which supported organizations that provide meals to voters waiting in long lines during the presidential election, as well as front line workers and others affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. The foundation matched donations up to $250,000. He's also signed a deal with Simon & Schuster who will publish the accompanying cookbook in 2022.

Sources: Wikipedia, IMDB, American History, Forbes, Good Housekeeping, Virtual Globetrotting, LA Times, Hollywood Reporter, PR Newswire

This article was updated on April 7, 2021 by Poppy O'Neill