Mike Leigh
Directing
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.
Known for
Directing40
movieHard Truths
2024
Director
moviePeterloo
2018
Director
movieMr. Turner
2014
Director
movieA Running Jump
2012
Director
movieAnother Year
2010
Director
movieHappy-Go-Lucky
2008
Director
movieVera Drake
2004
Director
movieAll or Nothing
2002
Director
movieTopsy-Turvy
1999
Director
movieCareer Girls
1997
Director
movieSecrets & Lies
1996
Director
movieNaked
1993
Director
movieA Sense of History
1992
Director
movieLife Is Sweet
1991
Director
movieHigh Hopes
1989
Director
movieThe Short & Curlies
1987
Director
movieFour Days in July
1984
Director
movieMeantime
1983
Director
movieAfternoon
1982
Director
movieProbation
1982
Director
movieOld Chums
1982
Director
tvFive-Minute Films
1982
Director
movieHome Sweet Home
1982
Director
movieGrown-Ups
1980
Director
movieWho's Who
1979
Director
movieAbigail's Party
1977
Director
movieThe Kiss of Death
1977
Director
movieNuts in May
1976
Director
movieThe Permissive Society
1975
Director
tvPlayhouse
1974
Director
movieHard Labour
1973
Director
movieA Mug's Game?
1973
Director
movieBleak Moments
1971
Director
tvPlay for Today
1970
Director
Writing38
movieHard Truths
2024
Writer
moviePeterloo
2018
Writer
movieMr. Turner
2014
Writer
movieA Running Jump
2012
Writer
movieAnother Year
2010
Writer
movieThe Party
2009
Writer
movieHappy-Go-Lucky
2008
Writer
movieVera Drake
2004
Writer
movieAll or Nothing
2002
Writer
movieTopsy-Turvy
1999
Writer
movieCareer Girls
1997
Writer
movieSecrets & Lies
1996
Writer
movieNaked
1993
Writer
movieLife Is Sweet
1991
Writer
movieHigh Hopes
1989
Writer
movieMeantime
1983
Writer
movieAfternoon
1982
Writer
movieProbation
1982
Writer
movieOld Chums
1982
Writer
tvFive-Minute Films
1982
Writer
movieHome Sweet Home
1982
Writer
movieGrown-Ups
1980
Writer
movieWho's Who
1979
Writer
movieAbigail's Party
1977
Writer
movieNuts in May
1976
Writer
tvPlayhouse
1974
Writer
movieHard Labour
1973
Writer
movieA Mug's Game?
1973
Writer
movieBleak Moments
1971
Writer
tvPlay for Today
1970
Writer
Acting33
tvRemembers…
2022
Self
movieDrama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today
2020
Self – Filmmaker
tvSquare
2012
Self
tvThe One Show
2006
Self - Guest / Self
movieCinema16: British Short Films
2003
Self - Commentary, The Short & Curlies (voice)
movieWelcome to Hollywood
2000
Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh: The Conversation
2000
Self - Interviewee
tvOmnibus
1967
Self
tvThe Oscars
1953
Self
Art2
movieShuttlecock
1976
Title Designer
movieFast Hands
1976
Title Designer
Creator1
tvFive-Minute Films
1982
Creator
Production1
movieThe Pirates of Penzance
2015
Production Director