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Mike Leigh‌

Gender

Male

Birthday

calendar1943-02-20

Popularity

star4.1

Mike Leigh

Salford, Greater Manchester, England, UK

Mike Leigh

Salford, Greater Manchester, England, UK

Gender

Male

Birthday

calendar1943-02-20

Popularity

star4.1

Biography

Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE (born 20 February 1943) is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s his career moved between work for the theatre and making films for BBC Television, many of which were characterized by a gritty "kitchen sink realism" style. His well-known films include Life is Sweet (1990), the comedy-drama Career Girls (1997), the Gilbert and Sullivan biopic Topsy Turvy (1999), and the bleak working-class drama All or Nothing (2002). His most notable works are arguably Naked (1993) for which he won the Best Director Award at Cannes, the BAFTA-winning (and Oscar-nominated) Palme d'Or winner Secrets & Lies (1996) and Golden Lion winner Vera Drake (2004). His films and stage plays, according to the critic Michael Coveney, "comprise a distinctive, homogenous body of work which stands comparison with anyone's in the British theatre and cinema over the same period."  Coveney further noted Leigh's role in helping to create stars – Liz Smith in Hard Labour, Alison Steadman in Abigail's Party, Brenda Blethyn in Grown-Ups, Antony Sher in Goose-Pimples, Gary Oldman and Tim Roth in Meantime, Jane Horrocks in Life is Sweet, David Thewlis in Naked – and remarked that the list of actors who have worked with him over the years – including Sheila Kelley, Paul Jesson, Phil Daniels, Lindsay Duncan, Lesley Sharp, Kathy Burke, Stephen Rea, Eric Richard, Julie Walters – "comprises an impressive, almost representative, nucleus of outstanding British acting talent."  Ian Buruma, writing in the New York Review of Books in January 1994, noted: "It is hard to get on a London bus or listen to the people at the next table in a cafeteria without thinking of Mike Leigh. Like other wholly original artists, he has staked out his own territory. Leigh's London is as distinctive as Fellini's Rome or Ozu's Tokyo." Description above from the Wikipedia article Mike Leigh, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movie Credits

Looking for Truffaut

Looking for Truffaut‌
star7.0
calendar 2009

Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain

Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain‌
star5.8
calendar 2000

Why Are We (Not) Creative?

Why Are We (Not) Creative?‌
star6.0
calendar 2021

Inside the Golden Statue

Inside the Golden Statue‌
star6.3
calendar 1998

Cinema16: British Short Films

Cinema16: British Short Films‌
star4.6
calendar 2003

Untitled 13

Untitled 13‌
star0.0
calendar

Her Name Was Moviola

Her Name Was Moviola‌
star0.0
calendar 2024

Cannes Uncut

Cannes Uncut‌
star5.8
calendar 2023

Mike Leigh: Making Plays

Mike Leigh: Making Plays‌
star8.0
calendar 1982

The One and Only Mike Leigh

The One and Only Mike Leigh‌
star9.0
calendar 2014

Welcome to Hollywood

Welcome to Hollywood‌
star3.9
calendar 1998

Vittorio D.

Vittorio D.‌
star6.3
calendar 2009

What Is Cinema?

What Is Cinema?‌
star6.4
calendar 2013

Mike Leigh: The Conversation

Mike Leigh: The Conversation‌
star0.0
calendar 2000

Scenes from A Separation

Scenes from A Separation‌
star0.5
calendar 2018

All About 'Abigail's Party'

All About 'Abigail's Party'‌
star6.3
calendar 2007

Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today

Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today‌
star0.0
calendar 2020

Two Left Feet

Two Left Feet‌
star5.0
calendar 1963

Citizen B

Citizen B‌
star0.0
calendar 2025

Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light

Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light‌
star0.0
calendar 2016

Tv Credits

The One Show

The One Show‌
star4.6
calendar 2006

The Culture Show

The Culture Show‌
star6.0
calendar 2004

The Alan Titchmarsh Show

The Alan Titchmarsh Show‌
star3.7
calendar 2007

Maigret

Maigret‌
star6.9
calendar 1960

The Oscars

The Oscars‌
star7.0
calendar 1953

Reel Britannia

Reel Britannia‌
star8.5
calendar 2022

Square

Square‌
star0.0
calendar 2012