Biography
Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes CBE (born 1 August 1965) is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours List. In 2000, Mendes was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg, Germany. In 2005, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 15 in their list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture". Born in Berkshire to a Trinidadian Catholic father and an English Jewish mother, Mendes grew up in North London. He read English at Peterhouse at Cambridge University. He began directing plays there before joining Donmar Warehouse, a centre of 1990s London theatre culture. In theatre, he is known for his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret (1993), Oliver! (1994), Company (1995), and Gypsy (2003). For the first time, he directed an original West End stage musical with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013). For his work on the London stage, Mendes has received three Laurence Olivier Awards for Company, Twelfth Night, and The…
Directed
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Skyfall (2012) — Director
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1917 (2019) — Director
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American Beauty (1999) — Director
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Spectre (2015) — Director
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Revolutionary Road (2008) — Director
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Road to Perdition (2002) — Director
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Jarhead (2005) — Director
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Away We Go (2009) — Director
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Empire of Light (2022) — Director
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The Franchise (2024) — Director
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Cabaret (1993) — Director
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What They Found (2025) — Director
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National Theatre Live: King Lear (2014) — Director
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Company (1996) — Director
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National Theatre Live: The Motive and the Cue (2024) — Director
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National Theatre Live: The Lehman Trilogy (2019) — Director
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Performance (1991) — Director
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The Beatles: Ringo (2028) — Director
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The Beatles: George (2028) — Director
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The Beatles: John (2028) — Director
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The Beatles: Paul (2028) — Director
Also appeared in
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The Late Late Show with James Corden (2015) — Self - Guest
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Toast of London (2013) — Sam Mendes
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The Oscars (1953) — Self
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Everything or Nothing (2012) — Self
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The Sound of 007 (2022) — Self
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Allied Forces: Making 1917 (2020) — Self
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NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage (2014) — Self
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American Beauty: Look Closer... (2000) — Self
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Still Tickin': The Return of 'A Clockwork Orange' (2000) — Self
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Who Needs Sleep? (2006) — Self
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Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage (2016) — Self
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Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg (2022)
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Company (1996) — Self
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Unscripted (2005) — Sam Mendes
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Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes (2022) — Self
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A Cinematic Life: The Art and Influence of Conrad Hall (2010) — Self
- Tom Hanks: A League of His Own (2016) — Self
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Performance (1991) — Self
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Semper Fi: Life After the Corps (2006) — Self
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Jill Bilcock: The Art of Film Editing (2017) — Self
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"Jarhead" Diaries (2006) — Self
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Jarhead: Background (2006) — Self