Born in Leicester, England; educated at Cambridge University (law). Armed with a keen visual awareness and compelling ability to tell a story, Stephen Frears has established himself as a leading director in the British cinema since the 1980s. After studying law at Cambridge, Frears became interested in the stage and joined London's Royal Court Theater. He did not become involved in film until 1966 when Karel Reisz offered an unemployed Frears a job as assistant director on MORGAN! (1966). Frears continued working as an assistant director for Reisz, Lindsay Anderson and Albert Finney before he had the opportunity to direct his first feature. GUMSHOE (1972) was a satire on American detective films with Finney as a romantic dreamer who envisions himself a private eye. It was not until 1984 that Frears would work on another project intended specifically for theatrical release. During this interval, he worked continuously in television, refining his craft while developing a reputation for workmanlike efforts and an ability to get along with both writers and actors. Frears returned to feature filmmaking with THE HIT (1984), a taut, well-crafted thriller which, like GUMSHOE, provided an interesting twist to the crime genre. Terence Stamp plays an informer living out his days in Spain, with John Hurt as a hard-boiled hit man hired to take him back to Paris to receive his come-uppance from the crime boss he had snitched on. This downbeat film regards its characters and their predicaments with a biting sense of humor, a quality which has marked all of Frears's films. With MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE (1985), shot in 16mm for only $900,000 for British television, Frears had his breakthrough picture. Working with writer Hanif Kureishi, Frears portrays the effects of racism and underemployment on working-class London through the eyes of a young Pakistani attempting to carve his own place in the world. The next Kureshi/Frears effort, SAMMY AND ROSIE GET LAID (1987), dealt with these same themes in a multilayered look at the social relations revolving around a liberal, educated, mixed-race couple (Pakistani and upper-middle-class British) living in a poor section of London. Though the themes are not explored to their fullest, the rich visuals and good performances make this an entertaining film that exposes many of the inequities of British society. Between these two efforts Frears adapted John Lahr's biography of playwright Joe Orton, who was brutally murdered at the height of his fame by his longtime lover and roommate Ken Halliwell. Rather than a standard biography, PRICK UP YOUR EARS (1987) concentrates mainly on the relationship of these two men as a study of marriage gone tragically sour. In 1988 Frears fulfilled his longtime wish to work in the Hollywood system, a move he hoped would broaden his potential while providing greater financial rewards. DANGEROUS LIAISONS, an adaptation of Christopher Hampton's play (which itself was based on Choderlos de Laclos's 18th-century novel), displayed the customary Frears trademarks: good performances and witty dialogue. But it was also his most glossy, stylized film, lacking the conviction and compellingness of his earlier efforts. As if in response to this, Frears's next Hollywood outing, THE GRIFTERS (1990), retained the stylization (a timeless Southern California floating somewhere between the 1950s and the 1980s), but added the grittiness that had informed his British features. Adapted from the novel by Jim Thompson and starring John Cusack, Annette Bening, and Anjelica Huston, the film was critically acclaimed and confirmed Frears's bankable status in Hollywood. Other notable screen credits include HERO (1992), MARY REILLY and THE VAN (both 1996), THE HI-LO COUNTRY (1998), HIGH FIDELITY, LIAM and "Fail Safe" (TV) (all 2000), DIRTY PRETTY THINGS (2002), MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS (2005) and THE QUEEN (2006).  Nominated for Achievement in Directing 1990: THE GRIFTERS  Nominated for Achievement in Directing 2006: THE QUEEN 2 nominations