Mike Leigh

For the Canadian sailor, see Mike Leigh (sailor). For other people with similar names, see Michael Leigh.

Mike Leigh
OBE, FRSL
Leigh in 2021
Born
Mike Leigh[1][2]

(1943-02-20) 20 February 1943 (age 81)
Salford, England[3]
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Director, screenwriter, producer, actor
Years active1963–present
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1973; div. 2001)​
Children2
Mike Leigh's voice
discussing High Hopes, from the BBC programme The Film Programme, 30 August 2007[4]

Mike Leigh OBE FRSL (born 20 February 1943) is an English writer-director with a career spanning film, theatre and television. He has received numerous accolades, including prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, 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.[5]

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.[6] 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".[7]

Leigh's early films include Bleak Moments (1971), Meantime (1983), Life Is Sweet (1990), and Naked (1993).[8] He received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Secrets & Lies (1996). He received further Oscar nominations for Topsy-Turvy (1999), Vera Drake (2004), and Another Year (2010). Other notable films include All or Nothing (2002), Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Mr. Turner (2014), and Peterloo (2018).[9][10][11] His stage plays include Smelling A Rat, It's A Great Big Shame, Greek Tragedy, Goose-Pimples, Ecstasy and Abigail's Party.[12]

  1. ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007
  2. ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916–2005
  3. ^ Michael Coveney, The World According to Mike Leigh, p. 36
  4. ^ "Mike Leigh". The Film Programme. 30 August 2007. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  5. ^ "No. 53332". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 1993. p. B12.
  6. ^ Coveney, p. 66.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gordon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Naked". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 22 August 2009.
  9. ^ "There's a smile on my face, for almost the whole human race". Rogerebert.com. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  10. ^ "The Best of Possible Worlds". Film Comment. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  11. ^ Hensel, Danny (4 April 2019). "In The Rich But Scattered 'Peterloo,' Mike Leigh Presents Scenes From A Massacre". NPR. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  12. ^ O'Mahony, John (19 October 2002). "Acts of Faith". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 November 2020.