Film: The Hours
Wins for movie: None
Previous Oscar wins/nominations:
Nominated Best Director, Billy Elliott (2000)
Bio: After spending some 15 years honing his craft and amassing numerous accolades, British stage director Stephen Daldry moved from the theater to film. In 1997, he signed a three-year, first-look deal with Working Title Films. He started with the 1998 BAFTA-nominated short Eight but then briefly returned to the theater to direct David Hare’s monologue Via Dolorosa. Daldry selected playwright Lee Hall’s screenplay about a youngster from a coal mining family who wants to be a ballet dancer as his debut film Billy Elliot. For his follow-up, Daldry helmed the emotional film version of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer-winning The Hours.
