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Mike Leigh

File:Mike_Leigh_in_2021.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Mike Leigh

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English writer and director (born 1943)

Person · Open Library

Born
1943
Works
35

Top works

  • ʻErom
  • המסיבה של אביגיל
  • Lover's Revenge Kit
  • Lover's Revenge Kit
  • Two thousand years

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Directing · Salford, Greater Manchester, England, UK

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…

Known for

  • Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain — Self2025
  • Citizen B — Self2025
  • Her Name Was Moviola — Self2024
  • Cannes Uncut — Self2023
  • Reel Britannia — Self2022
  • Remembers… — Self2022
  • Why Are We (Not) Creative? — Self2021
  • Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today — Self – Filmmaker2020
  • Scenes from A Separation — Self2018
  • Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light — Self2016

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Male
Origin
United Kingdom
Active from
1947-09-26
ambientartart rockelectronicnew wavenew wave music

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
448
Total plays
1,428

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Leigh">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Mike Leigh

Key facts

Born
( 1943-02-20 ) 20 February 1943 (age 83) , Welwyn Garden City , Hertfordshire , England
Alma mater
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Camberwell School of Art and Design Central School of Art and Design London Film School
Occupations
Director, screenwriter, producer, actor
Years active
1963–present
Spouse
Alison Steadman ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1973 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 2001 ) ​

via Wikipedia infobox

~30 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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".

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mike Leigh” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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