Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English screenwriter, producer, director and former actor with a film, theatre, and television career spanning more than 60 years. His accolades include prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Venice International Film Festival, three BAFTA Awards, and nominations for seven Academy Awards. He also received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2014, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 Birthday Honours for services to the film industry. Leigh studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design and the London School of Film Technique. His short-lived acting career included the role of a mute in the 1963 Maigret episode "The Flemish Shop". He began working as a theatre director and playwright in the mid-1960s, before transitioning to making televised plays and films for BBC Television in the 1970s and '80s. Leigh is known for his lengthy rehearsal and improvisation techniques with actors to build characters and narrative for his films. His purpose is to capture reality and present "emotional, subjective, intuitive, instinctive, vulnerable films". Leigh's early films include Bleak Moments (1971), Meantime (1983), Life Is Sweet (1990), and Naked (1993). He received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Secrets & Lies (1996) and Vera Drake (2004). He received further Academy Award nominations for Topsy-Turvy (1999), Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), and Another Year (2010). Other notable films include All or Nothing (2002), Mr. Turner (2014), Peterloo (2018), and Hard Truths (2024). His stage plays include Smelling A Rat, It's a Great Big Shame, Greek Tragedy, Goose-Pimples, Ecstasy and Abigail's Party.