Photo: Arun Nevader - © WireImage.com

Born Donn Alan Pennebaker in Evanston, IL; educated at Yale and MIT. Former engineer, advertising copywriter and painter who began making experimental and documentary films in the 1950s. Beginning with DAYBREAK EXPRESS (1953), Pennebaker emerged as one of the foremost proponents of direct cinema, a style of filmmaking which favored the immediate recording of reality in as unobtrusive a manner as possible. He worked for a time at Drew Associates with Richard Leacock and Albert Maysles; although he left in 1963, he continued to collaborate on joint ventures with Leacock. Pennebaker is best known for DON'T LOOK BACK (1967), documenting Bob Dylan's first tour of England, MONTEREY POP (1968) and for completing and editing 1 P.M. (1972), a film begun by Jean-Luc Godard. Other notable directing credits include BRUSSELS LOOPS (1957), LAMBER, HENDRICKS & CO. (1964), HIER STRAUSS (1965), KEEP ON 'ROCKIN (1969), ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS (1973), ENERGY WAR (1977), TOWN BLOODY HALL (1979), DELOREAN (1981), ROCKABY (1983), JIMI PLAYS MONTEREY (1986), 101, SHAKE!: OTIS AT MONTEREY and JIMI HENDRIX LIVE (all 1989), BRANFORD MARSALIS: THE MUSIC TELLS YOU (1992), THE WAR ROOM (1993), KEINE ZEIT (1996), MOON OVER BROADWAY (1997), DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN (2000), and ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE (2002). Pennebaker is married to rock documentarian Chris Hegedus, with whom he often partners on projects. They live in New York and teach film courses at Yale University.  Nominated for Achievement in Documentary Features 1993: THE WAR ROOM - Producer (w. Chris Hegedus) 1 nomination