Steve McQueen (director)

For the American actor, see Steve McQueen. For other people named Steve McQueen, see Steve McQueen (disambiguation).

Sir Steve McQueen
CBE
McQueen at DIFF 2024
Born (1969-10-09) 9 October 1969 (age 55)[1]
London, England
Alma materGoldsmiths, University of London (BFA)
Occupations
  • Film director
  • film producer
  • screenwriter
  • video artist
Years active1993–present
Style
SpouseBianca Stigter[2]
Children2
AwardsFull list

Sir Steve Rodney McQueen CBE (born 9 October 1969) is a British film director, film producer, screenwriter, and video artist. He was knighted in 2020 for services to art and film.[3] In 2014, he was included in Time magazine's annual Time 100 list of the "most influential people in the world".[4][5] He has received an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and in 2016 the BFI Fellowship.[6]

McQueen began his formal training studying painting at London's Chelsea College of Art and Design. He later pursued film at Goldsmiths College and briefly at New York University. Influenced by Jean Vigo, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Ingmar Bergman, and Andy Warhol, McQueen started making short films.[7] For his artwork, McQueen has received the Turner Prize. In 2006, he produced Queen and Country, which commemorates British soldiers killed in Iraq by presenting their portraits as a sheet of stamps.

He became known for directing films that deal with intense subject matters such as Hunger (2008), a historical drama about the 1981 Irish hunger strike; Shame (2011), a drama about an executive struggling with sex addiction; 12 Years a Slave (2013), an adaptation of Solomon Northup's 1853 slave narrative memoir; and Widows (2018), a crime thriller set in contemporary Chicago. He released Small Axe (2020), a collection of five films "set within London's West Indian community from the late 1960s to the early '80s" and the BBC documentary series Uprising (2021).[8]

For 12 Years a Slave, he won the Academy Award for Best Picture,[9] the BAFTA Award for Best Film, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.[10] McQueen is the first black filmmaker to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.[11] He is also the first person to win both an Academy Award and the Turner Prize.[12]

  1. ^ "Steve McQueen". British Film Institute. 9 October 1969. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  2. ^ Kino, Carol (28 January 2010). "Intense Seeker of Powerful Elegance". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  3. ^ "Director Sir Steve McQueen receives knighthood at Windsor Castle". Evening Standard. 15 March 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
  4. ^ Corliss, Richard (24 April 2014). "Why Steve McQueen Is One of the TIME 100". Time Magazine. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  5. ^ Nyong'o, Lupita (23 April 2014). "Steve McQueen". Time. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  6. ^ Korsner, Jason (24 August 2016). "12 Years A Slave director Steve McQueen to become BFI Fellow". What's Worth Seeing. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  7. ^ "Movies & TV - Famous British People - Steve McQueen". Biography. 5 May 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  8. ^ White, Peter (10 September 2019). "'Small Axe': BBC Unveils First-Look At Steve McQueen Period Drama". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  9. ^ Cieply, Michael; Barnesmarch, Brooks (2 March 2014). "12 Years a Slave Claims Best Picture Oscar". The New York Times.
  10. ^ "Steve McQueen named best director by New York critics". BBC, 4 December 2013.
  11. ^ Horn, John (3 March 2014). "Oscars 2014: '12 Years a Slave' wins best picture Oscar". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 17 April 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  12. ^ Hattersley, Giles (8 January 2020). ""I Wanted To Present The Starting Point To Everything": The Inimitable Steve McQueen On His Landmark Tate Retrospective". Vogue.