Stephen Daldry

Current Role

Billy Elliot and the huge success it has garnered since playing in London's West End is testament to the creative genius of Stephen Daldry and his team. Billy Elliot now plays in 3 countries worldwide; UK, Australia and the USA.

Early Life

Stephen Daldry was born in Dorset, his mother a singer and his father was a bank manager. Stephen's growing interest in theatre, he joined a youth drama group, was discouraged by his father who convinced him to leave school early and work in a shirt factory to help support the family. Stephen's father, though, died when Stephen was only 15 and he was saved from the shirt factory when he won an RAF scholarship to Sheffield University where he studied English. Whilst there he joined the University's Socialist Workers Party, a political leaning that would often be evident in his work. Daldry also trained at East 15 Acting School in London.

Having graduated University in the early 1980's Daldry travelled around Italy for a year and studied as a clowns apprentice before retuning and working at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield until 1988 when he moved to London's Gate Theatre which he ran from 1990 - 1992 when he left and became Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre.

After several successful plays Stephen Daldry took a leave of absence from theatre in 2000 and turned his attention to direction a film called Dancer that soon became Billy Elliot. Daldry continues to divide his time between the two mediums and in 2001 he married the dancer Lucy Sexton and together they have a daughter.

Career Highlights

After becoming Artistic Director of the Royal Theatre Court at just 32 years old, Stephen Daldry received critical acclaim with his famous re-staging of J.B Priestley's An Inspector Calls. When the play transferred to Broadway it won Daldry a Tony award in 1994. In 1998 Daldry was approached by British film production company Working Title to produce a short film called Eight which would gain nomination for a BAFTA in 1999. The film followed a day in the life of an 8 year old football fan coming to terms with life in a new town after the death of his father.

Daldry returned to the Royal Court Theatre to direct David Hare's Via Dolorosa before taking his leave of absence to work on Billy Elliot which he later developed into the hit West End musical currently showing at the Victoria Palace Theatre. Following the success of Billy Elliot Daldry directed the film The Hours which starred Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep and received 8 Oscar nominations including Best Director.

Interesting Facts

• Daldry made number 92 in Premiere's 2003 Power 100 List, his first appearance on the list
• Stephen Daldry is a Trustee of both the Old Vic and the Young Vic theatres
• Billy Elliot the film version has won over 40 awards worldwide

Awards

• Stephen Daldry was awarded the CBE in the 2004 New Year's Honours List
• 8 Oscar nominations