Who

A former theater director, Daldry directed the movies Billy Elliot and The Hours.

Backstory

Born and raised in the British town of Devon, Daldry studied English in college and then spent a year in Italy apprenticing to be a clown. Returning to England in the mid-1980s, he got his start in theater at the Crucible, making his name staging work by writers like David Hare and Sarah Kane, and directing unconventional versions of plays such as An Inspector Calls and Machinal. In the late 1980s, Daldry was selected to head up London's Gate Theater; in 1992, at the age of 32, he was named artistic director at the Royal Court Theatre. Two years later, he arrived in New York after An Inspector Calls—which he'd created with designer and ex-lover Ian MacNeil—moved to Broadway and he earned a Best Director Tony in 1994 for his efforts. He made his first foray into directing films in 2000, and has focused on the silver screen ever since.

Of note

Daldry established his reputation stateside with the 2000 indie flick Billy Elliot, about a working-class Irish kid who becomes a ballet dancer. (The film was nominated for three Oscars.) He followed up with the 2002 film version of Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Hours, which was produced by Scott Rudin, written by David Hare and starred Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore. The movie was a critical and commercial success, earning nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Sticking with a similar formula, Daldry's next film is an adaptation of the Michael Chabon novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

Personal

Although he'd been out as a gay man for decades prior, he married dancer Lucy Sexton in 2001. The couple now has a daughter, Annabel Clare. Daldry explained: "I refuse to be boxed in to the idea that 'Oh, no, I can't have kids 'cause I'm gay'…Do I have sex with my wife? Yes. Is it a real marriage? Yes. Am I gay? Yes." Daldry has also been romantically linked to choreographer and producer Richard Move. He splits his time between a townhouse in Chelsea, which he bought for $3.8 million in 2009, and a home in Hertfordshire, England.