Biography for
Stephen Daldry More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

2 May 1961, Dorset, England, UK

Birth Name

Stephen David Daldry

Height

6' 2" (1.88 m)

Spouse

Lucy Sexton

(18 October 2001 - present) 1 child

Trivia

Ranked #92 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. It is his first appearance on the list.

Unofficially adopted aspiring actor Jamie Bell whilst shooting Billy Elliot (2000).

His wife Lucy gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Annabel Clare. The baby was born in May 2003.

He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2004 New Year's Honours List for his services to Drama.

He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1994 (1993 season) for Best Director of a Play for Machinal at the Royal National Theatre.

He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1993 (1992 season) for Best Director for a Play for An Inspector Calls at the Royal National Theatre.

He was awarded the 1992 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Director for An Inspector Calls.

He was awarded the 1992 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre Award) for Best Director for An Inspector Calls.

Won Broadway's 1994 Tony Award as Best Director (Play) for "An Inspector Calls."

Has directed 6 actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Julie Walters, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet, and Max von Sydow. Kidman and Winslet both won Oscars for performances in one of his movies.

Graduated from the University of Sheffield and completed an apprenticeship at the city's Crucible Theatre.

Received an Oscar-nomination as Best Director for his first three movies: Billy Elliot (2000), The Hours (2002) and The Reader (2008). He is the first (and as of 2009, the only) person ever to accomplish this.

He was awarded the 2009 Tony Award for Director of a Musical for "Billy Elliott" on Broadway in New York City.

Won Broadway's 2009 Tony Award as Best Director (Musical) for "Billy Elliot".

Was in a relationship with Ian MacNeil for 13 years. They met in 1988 at an outdoor production of Alice in Wonderland directed by their mutual friend Ian Forest.

Personal Quotes

"What's so funny is when people say, 'Oh, does that mean you're not gay anymore?' And you go, 'Oh, give me a break. What do you mean?' We wanted to have kids! We thought we'd get married and have kids. We're allowed to do everything. I refuse to be boxed in to the idea that 'Oh, no, I can't have kids 'cause I'm gay.' I can have kids if I'm gay. And I can also get married and have a fantastic life...To all questions [having to do] with my marriage, the answer to everything is yes. Do I have sex with my wife? Yes. Is it a real marriage? Yes. Am I gay? Yes." (quoted in The Advocate after the birth of his daughter Annabel Clare)

One of the great things about directors is how collegial we feel with each other. We share huge amounts - I get other directors in to see my work all the time and they do the same with me. It's a very warm and generous group of people.

When I made Billy Elliot, people asked me, "Oh, did you want to be a dancer when you were young, then?" I didn't even like dance before I made the film. "Do you come from the north-east?" No, Somerset. "Is it based on someone?" No. We made it up. We just made it up. The act of making something up seems to be very difficult these days.

I get frustrated about it because they say, "How can a man talk about women? I say, "Steven Spielberg didn't need to be an alien to talk about ET. You don't need to be a dog to direct Lassie. It seems to be a denial of the process of imagination, which is a posh word for "guesswork" [on 'The Hours']

They never met. We shot Meryl first, then Julianne, then Nicole. The first time they got together was on the Oprah Winfrey show and talked about cornflakes. [on 'The Hours']

Where Are They Now

(May 2009) Mayfair, London, England