Mike Leigh

About

Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is a retired British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s his career moved between work for the theatre and making films for BBC Television, many of which were characterized by a gritty "kitchen sink realism" style. His well-known films include Life is Sweet (1990), the comedy-drama Career Girls (1997), the Gilbert and Sullivan biopic Topsy Turvy (1999), and the bleak working-class drama All or Nothing (2002). His most notable works are arguably Naked (1993) for which he won the Best Director Award at Cannes, the BAFTA-winning (and Oscar-nominated) Palme d'Or winner Secrets & Lies (1996) and Golden Lion winner Vera...

Known for

Play for TodaySeries • 1970PlayhouseSeries • 1974MaigretSeries • 1960Secrets & LiesMovie • 1996Hard TruthsMovie • 2024Mr. TurnerMovie • 2014NakedMovie • 1993All or NothingMovie • 2002Happy-Go-LuckyMovie • 2008Vera DrakeMovie • 2004PeterlooMovie • 2018Career GirlsMovie • 1997Another YearMovie • 2010Life Is SweetMovie • 1991Topsy-TurvyMovie • 1999High HopesMovie • 1989MeantimeMovie • 1983Abigail's PartyMovie • 1977The Short & CurliesMovie • 1987Bleak MomentsMovie • 1972A Sense of HistoryMovie • 1992Nuts in MayMovie • 1976