- Born
- Birth nameStephen David Daldry
- Height6′ 1″ (1.86 m)
- In 1989, Stephen Daldry worked as a freelance reader of unsolicited manuscripts for Literary Manager Nicholas Wright in the Scripts Department at the Royal National Theatre. In July of that year, he directed a Dadaist/expressionist production of "Judgement Day," a play by Odon von Horvath, at the Old Red Lion in London.
- IMDb mini biography by: Doug Rose
- SpouseLucy Sexton(October 18, 2001 - present) (1 child)
- Films generally focus on female characters, including interpretations honored with an Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role by Nicole Kidman in The Hours (2002) and Kate Winslet in The Reader (2008).
- Frequently collaborates with screenwriter David Hare.
- Films generally feature two or more main characters from different generations such as Thomas Horn and Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), Kate Winslet and David Kross in The Reader (2008) and the three primary female leads in The Hours (2002).
- His films often contain a character who tries to seek some form of redemption, often with the help of another character
- 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 person ever to accomplish this.
- Unofficially adopted aspiring actor Jamie Bell whilst shooting Billy Elliot (2000).
- 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.
- 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.
- He was awarded the 2009 Tony Award for Director of a Musical for "Billy Elliott" on Broadway in New York City.
- "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 (2002)]
- 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 (2002)]
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