Stephen Frears
If you enjoy movies that take you out of your comfort zone, then Stephen Frears is the film director for you. Frears is one of the most talented British filmmakers today, deftly exploring the complex fringes of emotion and society. Born in Leicester, England in 1941, Frears first studied law at Cambridge University in the early 1960s before embarking on television work and assisting directors Lindsay Anderson and Karel Reisz at the Royal Court Theatre. He made his directorial debut with Gumshoe (1971), a detective drama with Albert Finney. For the next decade he continued to work successfully in television for Channel 4 and the BBC. 1985's My Beautiful Laundrette was slated to be a made-for-television production but became a highly acclaimed feature film that dealt with homosexuality, racism, and class in Thatcher's Britain. He collaborated with screenwriter Hanif Kureishi, who also worked with him on the film, Sammie and Rosie Get Laid (1987). That same year he directed a biopic on English playwright Joe Orton starring Gary Oldman. His Hollywood debut was 1988's drama of a debauched French royal court, Dangerous Liaisons with John Malkovich and Glenn Close. Turning again to the underbelly of human nature in 1990, Frears was nominated for an Academy Award for The Grifters. Frears made several films during the 1990s including Mary Reilly, a dark reflection upon the themes of Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as well as the popular Roddy Doyle adaptations, The Snapper and The Van. He came back to Hollywood with High Fidelity in 2000, and the thriller Dirty Pretty Things in 2002. He garnered another Academy nomination in 2006 for The Queen, for which Helen Mirren won an Oscar for best actress.
