Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; December 1, 1935)[a] is an
American director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more
than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning movies. He began
his career as a comedy writer on Sid Caesar's comedy variety program,
Your Show of Shows, working alongside Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry
Gelbart and Neil Simon. He also began writing material for television,
published several books featuring short stories, and writing humor
pieces for The New Yorker. In the early 1960s, he performed as a
stand-up comedian in Greenwich Village alongside Lenny Bruce, Elaine
May, Mike Nichols, and Joan Rivers. There he developed a monologue
style (rather than traditional jokes), and the persona of an insecure,
intellectual, fretful nebbish, which he maintains is quite different
from his real-life personality. He released three comedy albums during
the mid to late 1960s, even earning a Grammy Award nomination for his
1964 comedy album entitled simply, Woody Allen. In 2004 Comedy Central
ranked Allen fourth on a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians,
while a UK survey ranked Allen the third-greatest comedian.By the
mid-1960s, Allen was writing and directing films, first specializing
in slapstick comedies such as Take the Money and Run (1969), Bananas
(1971), Sleeper (1973), and Love and Death (1975), before moving into
dramatic material influenced by European art cinema during the late
1970s with Interiors (1978), Manhattan (1979) and Stardust Memories
(1980), and alternating between comedies and dramas to the present. He
often stars in his films, typically in the persona he developed as a
standup. His film Annie Hall (1977), a romantic comedy featuring Allen
and his frequent collaborator Diane Keaton, won four Academy Awards,
including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and
Best Actress for Keaton. Allen is often identified as part of the New
Hollywood wave of filmmakers of the mid-1960s to late 1970s such as
Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, and Sidney Lumet. Critics have called
his work from the 1980s his most developed period. His films include
Zelig (1983), Broadway Danny Rose (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo
(1985), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Radio Days (1987), Another
Woman (1988), and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). Many of his
21st-century films, including Match Point (2005), Vicky Cristina
Barcelona (2008), and Midnight in Paris (2011), are set in Europe.
Blue Jasmine (2013) and Cafe Society (2016) are set in New York and
San Francisco.Critic Roger Ebert described Allen as "a treasure of the
cinema". Allen has received many accolades and honors. He has received
the most nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original
Screenplay, with 16. He has won four Academy Awards, one for Best
Director, and three for Best Original Screenplay. He also garnered
nine British Academy Film Awards. In 1997, Allen was awarded the BAFTA
Fellowship by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. In 2014
he received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime
Achievement and a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical for
Bullets over Broadway. The Writers Guild of America named his
screenplay for Annie Hall first on its list of the "101 Funniest
Screenplays". In 2011 PBS televised the film biography Woody Allen: A
Documentary on its series American Masters.
American director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more
than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning movies. He began
his career as a comedy writer on Sid Caesar's comedy variety program,
Your Show of Shows, working alongside Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry
Gelbart and Neil Simon. He also began writing material for television,
published several books featuring short stories, and writing humor
pieces for The New Yorker. In the early 1960s, he performed as a
stand-up comedian in Greenwich Village alongside Lenny Bruce, Elaine
May, Mike Nichols, and Joan Rivers. There he developed a monologue
style (rather than traditional jokes), and the persona of an insecure,
intellectual, fretful nebbish, which he maintains is quite different
from his real-life personality. He released three comedy albums during
the mid to late 1960s, even earning a Grammy Award nomination for his
1964 comedy album entitled simply, Woody Allen. In 2004 Comedy Central
ranked Allen fourth on a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians,
while a UK survey ranked Allen the third-greatest comedian.By the
mid-1960s, Allen was writing and directing films, first specializing
in slapstick comedies such as Take the Money and Run (1969), Bananas
(1971), Sleeper (1973), and Love and Death (1975), before moving into
dramatic material influenced by European art cinema during the late
1970s with Interiors (1978), Manhattan (1979) and Stardust Memories
(1980), and alternating between comedies and dramas to the present. He
often stars in his films, typically in the persona he developed as a
standup. His film Annie Hall (1977), a romantic comedy featuring Allen
and his frequent collaborator Diane Keaton, won four Academy Awards,
including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and
Best Actress for Keaton. Allen is often identified as part of the New
Hollywood wave of filmmakers of the mid-1960s to late 1970s such as
Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, and Sidney Lumet. Critics have called
his work from the 1980s his most developed period. His films include
Zelig (1983), Broadway Danny Rose (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo
(1985), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Radio Days (1987), Another
Woman (1988), and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). Many of his
21st-century films, including Match Point (2005), Vicky Cristina
Barcelona (2008), and Midnight in Paris (2011), are set in Europe.
Blue Jasmine (2013) and Cafe Society (2016) are set in New York and
San Francisco.Critic Roger Ebert described Allen as "a treasure of the
cinema". Allen has received many accolades and honors. He has received
the most nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original
Screenplay, with 16. He has won four Academy Awards, one for Best
Director, and three for Best Original Screenplay. He also garnered
nine British Academy Film Awards. In 1997, Allen was awarded the BAFTA
Fellowship by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. In 2014
he received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime
Achievement and a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical for
Bullets over Broadway. The Writers Guild of America named his
screenplay for Annie Hall first on its list of the "101 Funniest
Screenplays". In 2011 PBS televised the film biography Woody Allen: A
Documentary on its series American Masters.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.