Sam Mendes
Directing

Sam Mendes

August 1, 1965 (60 years old) Reading, Berkshire, England, UK

Also known as: Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes CBE, Samuel Alexander Mendes

Biography

Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes CBE (born 1 August 1965) is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours List. In 2000, Mendes was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg, Germany. In 2005, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 15 in their list of the “100 most powerful people in British culture”.

Born in Berkshire to a Trinidadian Catholic father and an English Jewish mother, Mendes grew up in North London. He read English at Peterhouse at Cambridge University. He began directing plays there before joining Donmar Warehouse, a centre of 1990s London theatre culture. In theatre, he is known for his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret (1993), Oliver! (1994), Company (1995), and Gypsy (2003).

For the first time, he directed an original West End stage musical with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013). For his work on the London stage, Mendes has received three Laurence Olivier Awards for Company, Twelfth Night, and The Ferryman. On Broadway, he earned two Tony Awards for Best Direction of a Play for  The Ferryman in 2019 and The Lehman Trilogy in 2022.

In film, he made his directorial debut with the drama American Beauty (1999), which earned him the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Director. He has since directed the films Road to Perdition (2002), Jarhead (2005), Revolutionary Road (2008), and the James Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). For the war film 1917 (2019), he received the BAFTA Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Director, as well as his second Academy Award nomination for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

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Known For

The Late Late Show with James Corden

The Late Late Show with James Corden

2015 • TV

The Oscars

The Oscars

1953 • TV

Performance

Performance

1991 • TV

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

2022 • TV

American Beauty: Look Closer...

American Beauty: Look Closer...

2000 • Movie

Company

Company

1996 • Movie

Movie Credits (48)

Acting

2000

American Beauty: Look Closer...

as Self

1996

Company

as Self

2022

The Sound of 007

as Self

2012

Everything or Nothing

as Self

2006

Who Needs Sleep?

as Self

2016

Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage

as Self

2017

Jill Bilcock: The Art of Film Editing

as Himself

2000

Still Tickin': The Return of 'A Clockwork Orange'

as Self

2020

Allied Forces: Making 1917

as Self

2022

Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes

as Self

2016

Tom Hanks: A League of His Own

as Self

2010

A Cinematic Life: The Art and Influence of Conrad Hall

as Self

2014

NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage

as Himself

Crew

1999

American Beauty

Director

2005

Jarhead

Director

2002

Road to Perdition

Director

2008

Revolutionary Road

Director

2007

Things We Lost in the Fire

Producer

2022

Empire of Light

Producer

2022

Empire of Light

Director

2012

Skyfall

Director

2009

Away We Go

Director

2015

Spectre

Director

TV Credits (12)

Acting

2015

The Late Late Show with James Corden

as Self - Guest

1 episodes

1953

The Oscars

as Self

2 episodes

1991

Performance

as Self

1 episodes

2022

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

1 episodes

2013

Toast of London

as Sam Mendes

1 episodes

2005

Unscripted

as Self

1 episodes

Crew

2014

Penny Dreadful

Executive Producer

2020

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels

Executive Producer

2012

The Hollow Crown

Executive Producer

2024

The Franchise

Executive Producer

2024

The Franchise

Director

1991

Performance

Director

Personal Info

Known For
Directing
Gender
Male
Birthday
August 1, 1965 (60 years old)
Place of Birth
Reading, Berkshire, England, UK
Popularity
1.8

Career Stats

48
Movies
12
TV Shows