Mike Leigh

Directing·Feb 20, 1943·Salford, Greater Manchester, England, UK

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Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s his career moved between work for the theatre and making films for BBC Television, many of which were characterized by a gritty "kitchen sink realism" style. His well-known films include Life is Sweet (1990), the comedy-drama Career Girls (1997), the Gilbert and Sullivan biopic Topsy Turvy (1999), and the bleak working-class drama All or Nothing (2002). His most notable works are arguably Naked (1993) for which he won the Best Director Award at Cannes, the BAFTA-winning (and Oscar-nominated) Palme d'Or winner Secrets & Lies (1996) and Golden Lion winner Vera Drake (2004). His films and stage plays, according to the critic Michael Coveney, "comprise a distinctive, homogenous body of work which stands comparison with anyone's in the British theatre and cinema over the same period." Coveney further noted Leigh's role in helping to create stars – Liz Smith in Hard Labour, Alison Steadman in Abigail's Party, Brenda Blethyn in Grown-Ups, Antony Sher in Goose-Pimples, Gary Oldman and Tim Roth in Meantime, Jane Horrocks in Life is Sweet, David Thewlis in Naked – and remarked that the list of actors who have worked with him over the years – including Sheila Kelley, Paul Jesson, Phil Daniels, Lindsay Duncan, Lesley Sharp, Kathy Burke, Stephen Rea, Eric Richard, Julie Walters – "comprises an impressive, almost representative, nucleus of outstanding British acting talent." Ian Buruma, writing in the New York Review of Books in January 1994, noted: "It is hard to get on a London bus or listen to the people at the next table in a cafeteria without thinking of Mike Leigh. Like other wholly original artists, he has staked out his own territory. Leigh's London is as distinctive as Fellini's Rome or Ozu's Tokyo." Description above from the Wikipedia article Mike Leigh, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Film	Credit
Tender Loving Care2026 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain2025 · Self	Self
Citizen B2025 · Self	Self
Hard Truths2024 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Her Name Was Moviola2024 · Self	Self
Cannes Uncut2023 · Self	Self
Why Are We (Not) Creative?2021 · Self	Self
Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today2020 · Self – Filmmaker	Self – Filmmaker
Peterloo2018 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Scenes from A Separation2018 · Self	Self
Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light2016 · Self	Self
TThe One and Only Mike Leigh2014 · Self	Self
Mr. Turner2014 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
What Is Cinema?2013 · Self	Self
A Running Jump2012 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Another Year2010 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Vittorio D.2009 · Self	Self
The Party2009 · Writer	Writer
LLooking for Truffaut2009 · Self	Self
Happy-Go-Lucky2008 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
All About 'Abigail's Party'2007 · Self	Self
Vera Drake2004 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Cinema16: British Short Films2003 · Self - Commentary, The Short & Curlies (voice), Director	Self - Commentary, The Short & Curlies (voice), Director
All or Nothing2002 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Welcome to Hollywood2000 · Mike Leigh	Mike Leigh
MMike Leigh: The Conversation2000 · Self - Interviewee	Self - Interviewee
Topsy-Turvy1999 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Inside the Golden Statue1998 · Self	Self
Career Girls1997 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Secrets & Lies1996 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Naked1993 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Two Mikes Don't Make a Wright1993 · Director	Director
A Sense of History1992 · Director	Director
Life Is Sweet1991 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
High Hopes1989 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Short & Curlies1987 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Four Days in July1984 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Meantime1983 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Afternoon1982 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
AA Light Snack1982 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Probation1982 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Old Chums1982 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Birth of the Goalie of the 2001 F.A. Cup Final1982 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Mike Leigh: Making Plays1982 · Self	Self
Home Sweet Home1982 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Grown-Ups1980 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Who's Who1979 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Abigail's Party1977 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer