Occupation Director, producer Spouse Lucy Sexton (m. 2001) Role Director | Name Stephen Daldry Years active 1985–present Children Annabel Clare Daldry | |
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Full Name Stephen David Daldry Awards See Awards and Nominations Parents Cherry Thompson, Patrick Daldry Movies Billy Elliot, Trash, The Reader, The Hours, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Similar People Thomas Horn, David Kross, Lee Hall, David Hare, Jamie Bell |
Dp 30 the reader director stephen daldry actor david kross
Stephen David Daldry, CBE (born 2 May 1960 is an English director and producer of both film and theatre. He has won two Olivier Awards for his work in the West End and a Tony Award for his work on Broadway. He has directed several feature films that have been nominated for Best Director and/or Best Picture at the Academy Awards. These films are Billy Elliot (2000), The Hours (2002), The Reader (2008) and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011).
Contents
- Dp 30 the reader director stephen daldry actor david kross
- David hare on director stephen daldry
- Early years
- Career
- Personal life
- Detailed theatreography
- Awards and nominations
- References

David hare on director stephen daldry
Early years

Daldry was born in Dorset, England, the son of bank manager Patrick Daldry and singer Cherry (née Thompson) 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 University of Sheffield to study English, 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 at East 15 Acting School on the post-graduate course 1982-83. Returning to Sheffield, he became an apprentice at the Crucible Theatre from 1985–88.
Career
Daldry began his career at the Sheffield Crucible with Artistic Director Clare Venables where he directed many productions. He also headed many productions at the Manchester Library Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse, Stratford East, Oxford Stage, Brighton and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He was also 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 (1989–92) and the Metro Theatre Company (1984–86). 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. He won awards on Broadway as well as the West End.
Daldry made his feature film directorial debut with Billy Elliot (2000). 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 (2008), 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 was planning to direct a film adaptation of Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay in 2005. In the ensuing three years, the project was cancelled and reinitiated several times, and in late 2006 was partially cast with Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire. According to Chabon, production then stalled due to "studio-politics kinds of reasons that I'm not privy to," and as of April 2007 remains inactive.
Daldry's fourth film was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, an adaptation of the book of the same name written by Jonathan Safran Foer, starring newcomer Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and Max von Sydow. 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.
As of August 2017, Daldry is in talks to direct a Star Wars anthology film centered on Obi Wan Kenobi. If the deal is made, Daldry will oversee the script and development of the film with Lucasfilm.
Personal life
Although Daldry has been married since 2001 to American performance artist and magazine editor Lucy Sexton, with whom he has a daughter, Annabel Clare (born 2003), he describes himself simply as a gay man because people prefer it ("they don't like the confusion").
He was previously 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.