Born in Romania to famed artist parents — his father, Eugen, a writer, and mother, Maria, an actress — Alex Rotaru began as a child entertainer, earning Romania’s highest national honor for young film actors before moving to the United States to pursue a degree in physics at MIT, where he graduated at the top of his class with a 5.0 GPA. After a stint at Université Paris-Sorbonne reawakened his love of cinema, he earned an MFA in film from the USC School of Cinematic Arts with top distinctions.
Rotaru has directed several acclaimed documentaries, including They Came to Play (New York Times Critic’s Pick, PBS) and Shakespeare High (New York Times Critic’s Pick, Showtime Networks), produced by Dana Brunetti, Dean Devlin and Kevin Spacey. A recipient of the Christopher Award for a third New York Times Critic’s Pick as cinematographer, editor and co-producer of PBS POV’s The Hobart Shakespeareans, he is recognized for eliciting profound emotional depths from his subjects, as seen in his interviews with U.S. poets laureate, including 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Louise Glück.

Rotaru has served as a U.S. Department of State Cultural Ambassador for the International Documentary Association’s American Documentary Showcase and USC’s American Film Showcase, conducting global cultural exchanges in Kazakhstan, Angola, Lebanon, El Salvador, Cyprus, Tajikistan and his native Romania.
He is in post-production with Missing Time, a sci-fi thriller exploring the unreliability of memory and perception in reality-outlier experiences. His current work can be seen on screen either on the festival circuit or soon to be in theaters and streaming in three new, multiple award-winning feature documentaries:
Hold on to Your Music — A Mother’s Legacy (as producer, cinematographer and additional director), about three generations of classical pianists: cultural icon Mona Golabek (a nominee for Grammy, New York Drama Desk and Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle awards), daughter of Holocaust survivor Lisa Jura and granddaughter of Malka, who perished in Buchenwald;
The Alvarado (as himself), a charming and sophisticated documentary by Richard Goldgewicht poking light philosophical fun at seven immigrant filmmakers enjoying the occasional lonely drink in Los Angeles during COVID-19;

And most importantly — Elvis, Rocky and Me: The Carol Connors Story (as writer, director, producer and himself), highlighting the improbably meteoric life of Hollywood’s favorite celebrity you’ve never heard of, iconoclastic and iconic glass ceiling breaker, twice Oscar-nominated and 2026 Grammy nominee, songwriter Carol Connors. The film won Best of the Fest in Palm Springs and audience favorite at the Miami Jewish International, and it is soon to have its New York City premiere at the Chelsea Film Festival — with more exciting news to follow.
Rotaru’s upcoming projects include AI Spy, chronicling Valerie Plame’s post-CIA career and the intersection of AI, Hollywood spy movies and real-life covert intelligence; another documentary about the biggest stars of the world’s classical music world assembling on an unlikely stage; and a one-man play about a famous and controversial contemporary historical and cultural figure reflecting on the impact of his life — both from within and beyond.

Continuing the motion picture literary development work he’s been spearheading since graduating from the School of Cinematic Arts, Rotaru is development and acquisitions executive at Tradition Pictures and is frequently a juror for international film and theater festivals, most recently at the 2025 Austin International Film Festival.
An accomplished director, actor and writer, Rotaru is thrilled to teach film at his alma mater, USC, and continues to create across mediums.

He lives in Beverly Hills with his son, Max.