theOscarSite facts:
Birth Name:
  • Richard Stuart Linklater
Birth Date:
  • 30 July 1960
Birthplace:
  • Houston, TX
Quote:
  • "Most of us are losers most of the time, if you think about it."
Biography:
(IMDb)
  • Self-taught writer-director Richard Linklater was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. Typically setting each of his movies during one 24-hour period, Linklater's work explored what he dubbed "the youth rebellion continuum," focusing in fine detail on generational rites and mores with rare compassion and understanding while definitively capturing the 20-something culture of his era through a series of nuanced, illuminating ensemble pieces which introduced any number of talented young actors into the Hollywood firmament. Linklater suspended his educational career at Sam Houston State University in 1982, to work on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. He subsequently relocated to the state's capital of Austin, where he founded a film society and began work on his debut short film, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN TO PLOW BY READING BOOKS (1988). Three years later he released the sprawling SLACKER (1991), an insightful, virtually plotless look at 1990s youth culture that became a favorite on the festival circuit prior to earning vast acclaim at Sundance in 1991. Upon its commercial release, the movie, made for less than $23,000, became the subject of considerable mainstream media attention, with the term "slacker" becoming a much-overused catch-all tag employed to affix a name and identity to America's disaffected youth culture.
Feature Film
Directing Credits:
  • 2013: Boyhood (also writer) (filming)
  • 2009: Me and Orson Welles (also producer)
  • 2008: Inning by Inning: a Portrait of a Coach
  • 2006: A Scanner Darkly (also writer), Fast Food Nation (also writer)
  • 2005: The Smoker, Bad News Bears
  • 2004: Before Sunset (also writer & producer)
  • 2003: The School of Rock, Live From Shiva's Dance Floor
  • 2001: Tape, Waking Life (also writer)
  • 1998: The Newton Boys (also writer)
  • 1996: Suburbia
  • 1995: Before Sunrise (also writer)
  • 1993: Dazed and Confused (also writer & producer)
  • 1991: Slacker (also writer & producer)
  • 1988: It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books
  • 1985: Woodshock
Academy Awards®: