Ben Shapiro Facts: Conservative Writer Speaks At UC Berkeley Amid Tight Security

[Correction Sept. 16, 2017, 1:57 p.m ET: A previous version of this article mistakenly identified Benjamin Aaron Shapiro as the director of "Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters" (2012) and as a professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. There is a different Ben Shapiro who is credited with the film and those university positions. This article has been updated by omitting the references.]

University of California (UC), Berkeley, which has been a flashpoint for clashes between left and right wing groups, witnessed a speech by conservative writer, Benjamin Aaron Shapiro on Thursday night.

During the event, the law enforcement was in full force to prevent any further violent clashes between far-left and far-right groups, something which has been a recent feature in the school, reports said.

Berkeley Police kept posting updates on its Twitter account about the security around Shapiro's event.

It also posted a photograph of the campus in which security officials are seen guarding the place.

The Berkeley College Republicans had invited right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos in February to speak at an event, however, it was canceled after masked left-wing protestors outside the venue shut it down. However, during Shapiro's appearance Thursday, police with riot gear had surrounded the area where the former Breitbart editor was set to speak, Fox News reported.

The event had cost the campus $600,000, which was more than what had been spent on security when Yiannopoulos had visited the campus in February, a press release on the university's website said citing UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof and Police Chief Margo Bennett.

Shapiro also tweeted about it saying that free speech did not come free and it too had a cost.

Shapiro was born in 1984 in California and entered University of California, Los Angeles, at the age of 16. He graduated summa cum laude — with the highest distinction — and Phi Beta Kappa in June 2004 with a BA in Political Science. Phi Beta Kappa "honors the best and brightest liberal arts and sciences undergraduates from 286 top schools across the nation."

Shapiro also graduated Harvard Law School cum laude in June 2007. At the age of 17, he was hired by Creators Syndicate — an independent media and syndication company — and became the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the U.S.

Among the major publications and websites where his columns are printed are Townhall.com, ABC News, WorldNetDaily.com, Human Events, FrontPageMag.com, FamilySecurityMatters.com, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Conservative Chronicle, according to his biography at Premiere Speakers Bureau — a platform that helps event planners find motivational, keynote and business speakers for their events.

Shapiro has written several books as well. His first book was "Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth," which got published in 2004, and his next book "Porn Generation" was published in 2005. His third book "Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House" was published in 2008; "Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans" was released in 2013 and "The People vs. Barack Obama" was published in 2014.

In 2012, Shapiro was hired as editor-at-large of Breitbart.com, a conservative website which was started by Andrew Breitbart.

As of May 2017, his estimated net worth was $4 million.