Bill Condon

BILL CONDON

Date of Birth: October 22, 1955

Born in New York City, Condon attended Columbia University, graduating with a degree in philosophy. He began his career as a film journalist, and an article he wrote for Millimeter magazine garnered the attention of producer Michael Laughlin. The two ended up co-writing the feature film Strange Behavior (1981) with Laughlin also directing.

Condon made his directorial debut with Sister, Sister (1987), starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Eric Stoltz. He then moved to TV, where he directed a number of telefilms over a period of several years before returning to the big screen with the box office bomb Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995). However, his Hollywood worth grew immensely when he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for his next film, Gods and Monsters (1998), which he also directed.

On the writing side, Condon was nominated for both a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar and a Golden Globe for Chicago (2002). He returned to directing with his screenplay, Kinsey (2004), based on the famous sex researcher. Though it didn't even make back its initial investment at the box office, the film, starring Liam Neeson, was nominated for Best Screenplay by the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2005 he won a Directors Guild of Great Britain award for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in International Film" for Kinsey (2004).

Condon tied with Clint Eastwood in 2006 for a Satellite Award as Best Director for Dreamgirls. In 2011, Condon inherited the challenging task of directing the final two films of the wildly successful Twilight franchise: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011) and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012).

In 2015, Condon directed Ian McKellen and Laura Linney in the mystery drama Mr. Holmes, and in 2017, tackled the live-action adaptation Beauty and the Beast with Emma Watson and Dan Stevens.

Most recently, Bill Condon reunited with Ian McKellen for the drama The Good Liar (2019), which also stars Helen Mirren.

Filmography:

Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Mr. Holmes (2015)
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
Dreamgirls (2006)
Kinsey (2004)
Gods and Monsters (1998)
Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995)
Sister, Sister (1987)