Stephen Daldry
Stephen David Daldry, CBE is an English director and producer of film, theatre, and television. He has won three Olivier Awards for his work in the West End and two Tony Awards for his work on Broadway. He has received three Academy Awards nominations for Best Director, for films Billy Elliot, The Hours, and The Reader. From 2016 to 2019, he produced and directed the Netflix television series The Crown, for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations and one win for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series. Daldry joined an elite group of directors by receiving nominations for direction in theatre, television and film.
Early years
Daldry was born in Dorset, the son of singer Cherry and bank manager Patrick Daldry. The family moved to Taunton, Somerset, where his father died of cancer when Daldry was aged 14.Daldry joined a youth theatre group in Taunton. and performed as Sandy Tyrell in Hay Fever for the local amateur society, Taunton Thespians. At age 18, he won a Royal Air Force scholarship to read English at the University of Sheffield, where he became chairman of the Sheffield University Theatre Group.
After graduation, he spent a year travelling through Italy, where he became a clown's apprentice. He then trained as an actor on the postgraduate course at East 15 Acting School from 1982 to 1983.
Career
Daldry began his career as an apprentice at the Sheffield Crucible from 1985 to 1988, working under artistic director Clare Venables. He also headed productions at the Manchester Library Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse, Stratford East, Oxford Stage, Brighton and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He was Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre from 1992–98, where he headed the £26 million development scheme. He was also Artistic Director of London's Gate Theatre and the Metro Theatre Company. He is currently on the Board of the Young and Old Vic Theatres and remains an Associate Director of the Royal Court Theatre. He was the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre for 2002 at St Catherine's College, Oxford.Daldry made his feature film directorial debut with Billy Elliot. His next film was The Hours, and it won Best Actress at the Academy Awards for Nicole Kidman. Recently, he directed a stage musical adaptation of Billy Elliot, and in 2009 his work on it earned him a Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical. He has also made a film version of The Reader, based on the book of the same name and starring Kate Winslet, David Kross and Ralph Fiennes. The film won Best Actress at the Academy Awards for Kate Winslet. He has received Academy Award nominations for directing three of his five films.
Daldry's fourth film was Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, an adaptation of the book of the same name written by Jonathan Safran Foer, starring Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow and introduced newcomer Thomas Horn. The screenplay was written by Eric Roth. The film received a nomination for Best Picture at the 84th Academy Awards and a nomination for von Sydow for Best Supporting Actor.
Personal life
Daldry was in a relationship with set designer Ian MacNeil for 13 years. They met at an outdoor production of Alice in Wonderland in Lancaster in 1988, and after settling in Camberwell, began collaborating on theatrical productions.Greatly impacted by the 9/11 tragedy in the United States, Stephen decided he wanted to start a family and married American performance artist and magazine editor Lucy Sexton, with whom he has a daughter. Despite this, he continues to refer to himself as gay because the public “don’t like confusion.”
Career
West End
- The Audience with Kristin Scott Thomas
- The Audience with Helen Mirren
- The Inheritance
- A Number
- Far Away
- Via Dolorosa
- Rat in the Skull
- Body Talk
- The Kitchen
- The Editing Process
- Search And Destroy
- An Inspector Calls
- Machinal
- Skylight
Broadway
- An Inspector Calls 27 April 1994 – 28 May 1995
- Via Dolorosa 18 March 1999 – 13 June 1999
- The Inheritance 27 September 2019 – 13 March 2020
- The Audience 8 March 2015 – 28 June 2015
- 1 October 2008 – 8 January 2012
- Skylight 2 April 2015 – 21 June 2015
Filmography
- 1998: Eight
- 2000: Billy Elliot
- 2001: The 'Billy Elliot' Boy
- 2002: The Hours
- 2008: The Reader
- 2011: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
- 2013: Alex Ko: From Iowa to Broadway, My Billy Elliot Story
- 2014: Trash
- TBA: Wicked
Television
- 2012: Games of the XXX Olympiad Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder
- 2012: Games of the XXX Olympiad Closing Ceremony: A Symphony of British Music
- 2016-20: The Crown
Detailed theatreography
- The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Liverpool Playhouse, Liverpool, England, then Theatre Royale, Stratford, England, 1988
- An Inspector Calls, York Theatre Royal, 1988
- Judgement Day, Old Red Lion Theatre, London, 1989
- Figaro Gets Divorced, Gate Theatre, London, 1990
- Cutting Room, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, 1990
- Our Man in Marzibah and Rousseau's Tale, Gate Theatre, 1991
- Damned for Despair, Gate Theatre, 1991
- Jerker, Gate Theatre, 1991
- Pioneers in Ingolstadt, Gate Theatre, 1991
- Purgatory in Ingolstadt, Gate Theatre, 1991
- Manon Lescaut, Dublin Grand Opera, 1992
- An Inspector Calls, National Theatre Company, Lyttelton Theatre, London, 1992, then Royale Theatre, New York City, 1994–1995, *later Garrick Theatre, London, 1995, finally Playhouse Theatre, London, 2016–17
- Search and Destroy, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 1993
- Machinal, National Theatre Company, Lyttelton Theatre, 1993
- The Europeans, 1993
- The Kitchen, Royal Court Theatre, 1994
- The Editing Process, Royal Court Theatre, 1994
- Rat in the Skull, Duke of York's Theatre, London, 1995
- The Libertine, Royal Court Theatre, 1995
- The Man of Mode, Royal Court Theatre, 1995
- Body Talk, Royal Court Theatre, 1996
- This Is a Chair, in London International Festival of Theatre, London, 1997
- Via Dolorosa, Royal Court Theatre, 1998, then Booth Theatre, New York City, 1999
- Far Away, Royal Court Theatre, 2000, then New York Theatre Workshop, New York City, 2002–2003
- A Number, Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, 2002, then New York Theatre Workshop, 2002–2003
- The Jungle, Young Vic, 2017-2018, then St. Ann's Warehouse, 2018
Awards and nominations
Awards
- 1993: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director of a Play – An Inspector Calls
- 1994: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play – An Inspector Calls
- 1994: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director of a Play – Machinal
- 1994: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play – An Inspector Calls
- 2000: BAFTA Award for Best British Film – Billy Elliot
- 2002: Vancouver Film Critics Circle Best Director – The Hours
- 2009: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – Billy Elliot the Musical
- 2012: AARP Movies for Grownups Best Director - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
- 2015: Rome Film Festival People's Choice Gala Award – Trash
- 2017: Golden Globe Awards Best Television Series Drama – The Crown Season 1
- 2018: Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series – The Crown Season 2: Paterfamilias
- 2019: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director of a Play – The Inheritance
- 2020: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play – The Inheritance
Nominations
- 2000: Academy Award for Best Director – Billy Elliot
- 2000: BAFTA Award Best Director – Billy Elliot
- 2001: César Award for Best Foreign Film – Billy Elliot
- 2002: Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directing – Motion Pictures – The Hours
- 2002: Golden Globe Award for Best Director – Motion Picture – The Hours
- 2002: Satellite Award for Best Director – The Hours
- 2002: Academy Award for Best Director – The Hours
- 2002: BAFTA Award for Best British Film – The Hours
- 2002: BAFTA Award for Best Director – The Hours
- 2004: César Award for Best Foreign Film – The Hours
- 2006: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director of a Musical - Billy Elliot the Musical
- 2008: Academy Award for Best Director – The Reader
- 2008: BAFTA Award for Best Director – The Reader
- 2008: Golden Globe Award for Best Director – Motion Picture – The Reader
- 2008: Satellite Award for Best Director – The Reader
- 2013: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – The Audience
- 2014: BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language – Trash
- 2015: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play – Skylight
- 2017: BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series - The Crown Season 1
- 2017: Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series – The Crown Season 1: Hyde Park Corner
- 2018: Golden Globe Awards Best Television Series Drama – The Crown Season 2