Anthony Minghella Biography
Summary
"Anthony Minghella" (born January 6, 1954) is an Academy Award-winning British film director, playwright and screenwriter. He is currently the chairman of the British Film Institute.
The Anthony Minghella Theatre at Quay Arts Centre on the Isle of Wight is named in his honour.
Early life
Minghella was born on the Isle of Wight to an Italian/Scottish father and a mother who came from Leeds; her ancestors originally came from Valvori, a small village in the Lazio region of central Italy.
He attended Sandown Grammar School and St John's College (Portsmouth). He is a graduate of the University of Hull, where he completed undergraduate and graduate courses, but eventually abandoned his doctoral thesis.
Career
His first piece of produced work was a 1975 stage adaptation of Gabriel Josipovici's "Mobius the Stripper", however it was his 1985 piece "Whale Music" that kickstarted his career (... more) . He made his directorial debut with a souble bill of Beckett's "Play" and "Happy Days". During the 1980s, he worked in television, script editing the children's drama series "Grange Hill" for the BBC and later writing "The Storyteller" series for Jim Henson. He also worked on episodes of the ITV detective drama "Inspector Morse". His 1986 play "Made in Bankok" found mainstream success in the West End.
His 1990 feature "Truly, Madly, Deeply", a drama he had written and directed for the BBC's "Screen Two" anthology strand, bypassed its expected TV broadcast and received a cinema release. In order to make the film, he had turned down an offer to direct another episode of "Inspector Morse", which he had thought would be a much higher-profile assignment.
In 1996, he won the Academy Award for Directing for "The English Patient". He was nominated for the Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay for 1999's "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and 2003's "Cold Mountain".
He vocally supported "I Know I'm Not Alone", a film of musician Michael Franti's peacemaking excursions into Iraq, Palestine and Israel.
He directed a party election broadcast for the Labour Party in 2005. The short film depicted Tony Blair and Gordon Brown working together and was criticised for being insincere: 'The Anthony Minghella party political broadcast last year was full of body language fibs', said Peter Collett, a psychologist at the University of Oxford. 'When you are talking to me, I'll give you my full attention only if I think you are very high status or if I love you. On that party political broadcast, they are staring at each other like lovers. It is completely false.'
Minghella made his operatic debut directing Puccini's "Madama Butterfly". It was first seen at the English National Opera in London in 2005, at the (Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre) in Vilnius in March 2006 and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in September 2006.
Personal life
He is married to Hong Kong-born choreographer Carolyn Choa. His brother, Dominic, is also a successful scriptwriter, and his son, Max, is an actor. His sister Edana is currently involved in a Jazz event on the Isle of Wight, and his nephew Dante is one of the participants in Channel 4's "Child Genius" series.
He is a big Portsmouth FC fan and appeared in the Channel 4 documentary "Hallowed Be Thy Game".
Selected filmography
"Living With Dinosaurs" (1989) (TV) (writer)
"Truly, Madly, Deeply" (1990)
"Mr. Wonderful" (1993)
"The English Patient" (1996)
"The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999)
"Play" (2000)
"Cold Mountain" (2003)
"Breaking and Entering" (2006)
"The Reader" (2010)
Selected plays
"Whale Music"
"Two Planks And A Passion"
"A Little Like Drowning"
"Made In Bangkok"
"Cigarettes and Chocolate"
Awards
1984 London Theatre Critics Circle Award - Most Promising Playwright
1986 London Theatre Critics Circle Award - Best new play for "Made in Bangkok"
1988 Giles Cooper Award for the radioplay "Cigarettes and Chocolate"
1992 BAFTA Film Award - Best original screenplay for "Truly, Madly, Deeply" (1990)
1997 Academy Award - Best director for "The English Patient" (1996)
1997 BAFTA Film Award - Best film for "The English Patient" (1996) (shared with Saul Zaentz)
1997 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards - Best Director and Best Screenplay for "The English Patient" (1996)
1997 Directors Guild of America Award - Outstanding Achievement in Motion Pictures for "The English Patient" (1996)
1997 Golden Globe Award - Best Director for "The English Patient" (1996)
1999 National Board of Review Award - Best Director for "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999)
2003 National Board of Review Award - Best Adapted Screenplay for "Cold Mountain" (2003)
External links
(Anthony Minghella interview with stv, November 2006)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Anthony Minghella.
