theOscar Site Facts:
Birth Name:
  • Samuel Alexander Mendes
Birth Date:
  • 1 August 1965
Birthplace:
  • Redding, England
Quote:
  • "If you shout in the theater, people think you've gone a bit mad. But if you raise your voice on a film set, people just work a bit harder." -- Premiere, September 1999
Education:
  • University of Cambridge (Cambridge, England)
Factoids:
  • Broadway directing debut with dark revival of Cabaret (1998)
  • Directed original stage production of Little Voice
  • Directed Nicole Kidman in The Blue Room
  • Directed Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya for the Donmar Warehouse Theatre Co. at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, featuring Emily Watson (2003)
  • Salary for AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999) $150,000; salary for ROAD TO PERDITION (2002) $1,200,000
Significant Other(s):
  • Kate Winslet, actress; married, 2003
  • Calista Flockhart, actress; dated late sping and summer 1999
  • Rachel Weisz
  • Jane Horrocks, actress; together 1992-1995
Family:
  • Grandfather: Alfred Mendes, novelist; founded the literary magazine The Beacon
  • Father: James Peter Mendes, retired university lecturer; divorced from Mendes' mother 1970
  • Mother: Valerie Helene Mendes (née Barnett), author; writes children's books
  • Son: Joe Alfie Winslet Mendes, b. 2003
Awards:
  • 1989: London Critics' Circle Award: Most Promising Newcomer; tied with actress Julia Ormond
  • 1995: London Critics' Circle Award: Best Director, The Glass Menagerie
  • 1999: Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Online Film Critics Society, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, Golden Globe, Directors Guild of America and 2000 London Film Critics Circle Awards for directing AMERICAN BEAUTY
  • Appointed a CBE (Commander of the British Empire), 2001
Feature Film
Credits:
  • (as director: ) Middlemarch (scheduled for 2009)
    Revolutionary Road (2008, also producer)
    Jarhead (2005)
    Road to Perdition (2002, also producer)
    American Beauty (1999)
  • (as producer): Follies (announced for 2009)
    The Kite Runner (2007)
    Things We Lost in the Fire (2007)
    Starter for 10 (2006)
Academy Awards®: