Stephen Daldry

Early years

Daldry was born on May 2nd 1960 in Dorset, the son of singer Cherry (née Thompson) and bank manager Patrick Daldry. The family moved to Taunton, Somerset, where his father died of cancer when Daldry was aged 14.

Daldry joined a youth theatre group in Taunton, Somerset and performed as Sandy Tyrell in Hay Fever for the local amateur society, Taunton Thespians. At age 18, he won a Royal Air Force scholarship to read English at the University of Sheffield, where he became chairman of the Sheffield University Theatre Group.

After graduation, he spent a year travelling through Italy, where he became a clown's apprentice. He then trained as an actor on the postgraduate course at East 15 Acting School from 1982 to 1983, now part of the University of Essex.

Career

Daldry began his career as an apprentice at the Sheffield Crucible from 1985 to 1988, working under artistic director Clare Venables. He also headed productions at the Manchester Library Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse, Stratford East, Oxford Stage, Brighton and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He was Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre from 1992 to 1998, where he headed the £26 million development scheme. He was also Artistic Director of London's Gate Theatre (1989–92) and the Metro Theatre Company (1984–86). He is currently on the Board of the Young and Old Vic Theatres and remains an Associate Director of the Royal Court Theatre. He was the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre for 2002 at St Catherine's College, Oxford.

Daldry made his feature film directorial debut with Billy Elliot (2000), which launched the film career of Jamie Bell. His next film was The Hours, which earned Nicole Kidman her first Best Actress win at the Academy Awards. He went on to direct a stage musical adaptation of Billy Elliot, and in 2009 his work earned him a Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical. He has also made a film version of The Reader (2008), based on the book of the same name and starring Kate Winslet, David Kross and Ralph Fiennes. The film won Best Actress at the Academy Awards for Kate Winslet. Daldry's fourth film was Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, an adaptation of the book of the same name written by Jonathan Safran Foer, starring Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, and Max von Sydow. The screenplay was written by Eric Roth. The film received a nomination for Best Picture at the 84th Academy Awards and a nomination for von Sydow for Best Supporting Actor.

Daldry was initially slated to direct a Star Wars spin off film about the iconic Star Wars character Obi-Wan Kenobi but the film was later scrapped due to the commercial failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story with Daldry saying the cancellation of the film crushed him and Hossein Amini. However, ideas from Daldry's originally planned film were repurposed for the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney + limited series directed by Deborah Chow and released in 2022 for which Daldry received credit as a consulting producer. In July 2022, it was revealed that Daldry would work with Sonia Friedman to develop a play based on the hit Netflix television show Stranger Things. The play entitled Stranger Things: The First Shadow premiered in December 2023 at the Phoenix Theatre in London's West End.

Personal life

Daldry was in a relationship with set designer Ian MacNeil for 13 years. They met at an outdoor production of Alice in Wonderland in Lancaster in 1988 and, after settling in Camberwell, began collaborating on theatrical productions.

Greatly affected by the September 11 attacks in the United States, Daldry decided he wanted to start a family. To this end he married American performance artist and magazine editor Lucy Sexton, with whom he had a daughter. Daldry nevertheless continues to refer to himself as gay, saying the public "[doesn't] like confusion". He has also suggested that the pair married so he could get health insurance, despite receiving this through his DGA affiliation.

Works

Film

Television

Short film

Theatre

Broadway

London

• The Audience with Helen Mirren, Gielgud Theatre (2013)
  • The Audience with Kristin Scott Thomas, Apollo Theatre (2015)
• The Inheritance, Noël Coward Theatre (2019)
• Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Phoenix Theatre (2023)
• A Number, Royal Court Theatre
• Far Away (also Albery Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop)
• Via Dolorosa (also the Duchess Theatre)
• Rat in the Skull, RCT
• Body Talk, RCT
• The Kitchen, RCT
• The Editing Process, RCT
• Search And Destroy, RCT
• An Inspector Calls, Royal National Theatre
• Machinal, Royal National Theatre
• Billy Elliot: The Musical, Victoria Palace Theatre (2005)
• Skylight, Wyndham's Theatre
• Kyoto, @sohoplace (2025)

Detailed theatreography

• The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Liverpool Playhouse, Liverpool, England, then Theatre Royale, Stratford, England, 1988
• An Inspector Calls, York Theatre Royal, 1988
• Judgement Day, Old Red Lion Theatre, London, 1989
• Figaro Gets Divorced, Gate Theatre, London, 1990
• Cutting Room, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, 1990
• Our Man in Marzibah and Rousseau's Tale (double-bill), Gate Theatre, 1991
• Damned for Despair, Gate Theatre, 1991
• Jerker, Gate Theatre, 1991
• (With Annie Castledine) Pioneers in Ingolstadt, Gate Theatre, 1991
• (With Annie Castledine) Purgatory in Ingolstadt, Gate Theatre, 1991
• Manon Lescaut, Dublin Grand Opera, 1992
• An Inspector Calls, National Theatre Company, Lyttelton Theatre, London, 1992, then Royale Theatre, New York City, 1994–1995, *later Garrick Theatre, London, 1995, finally Playhouse Theatre, London, 2016–17
• Search and Destroy, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 1993
• Machinal, National Theatre Company, Lyttelton Theatre, 1993
• The Europeans, 1993
• The Kitchen, Royal Court Theatre, 1994
• The Editing Process, Royal Court Theatre, 1994
• Rat in the Skull, Duke of York's Theatre, London, 1995
• The Libertine, Royal Court Theatre, 1995
• The Man of Mode, Royal Court Theatre, 1995
• Body Talk, Royal Court Theatre, 1996
• This Is a Chair, in London International Festival of Theatre, London, 1997
• Via Dolorosa (solo show), Royal Court Theatre, 1998, then Booth Theatre, New York City, 1999
• Far Away, Royal Court Theatre, 2000, then New York Theatre Workshop, New York City, 2002–2003
• A Number, Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, 2002, then New York Theatre Workshop, 2002–2003
• The Jungle, Young Vic, 2017–2018, then St. Ann's Warehouse, 2018
• Kyoto, Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon (2024)

Awards and honours

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Stephen Daldry

Directed Academy Award performances

Under Daldry's direction, these actors have received Academy Award nominations and wins for their performances in their respective roles.

References

References

1. "Stephen Daldry Biography". Filmreference.com.
2. (13 March 2001). "ENTERTAINMENT | Stephen Daldry: From stage to screen". BBC News.
3. Kellaway, Kate. (8 December 2002). "Stephen Daldry: He'll turn his hand to anything". The Guardian.
4. Kellaway, Kate. (8 December 2002). "Stephen Daldry: He'll turn his hand to anything". The Guardian.
5. "St. Catherine's College Oxford {{!}} 2002".
6. (7 October 2014). "THE 84TH ACADEMY AWARDS {{!}} 2012".
7. (28 June 2022). "'Obi-Wan Kenobi' was originally planned as a film trilogy, but 'Solo' disappointment killed the idea".
8. (7 July 2022). "Stranger Things spin-offs to include play made by British theatre duo". BBC News.
9. The Broadway League. "Stephen Daldry". IBDB.
10. (21 April 1996). "HOW WE MET: STEPHEN DALDRY AND IAN MACNEIL".
11. League, The Broadway. "Ian MacNeil – Broadway Cast & Staff – IBDB".
12. Giltz, Michael. (18 March 2003). "The golden Hours". The Advocate.
13. "Stephen Daldry". Matt & Andrej Koymasky – The Living Room – Biographies.
14. Wood, Gaby. (14 June 2009). "How Britain became the toast of Broadway". [[The Observer]].