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Mike Newell

Mike Newell's (Director) wide-ranging output has alternated between London and Hollywood, from film to TV. A Cambridge graduate, Newell began directing at age 22, working on numerous plays for TV, both for the BBC and for most of the ITV companies. His television feature The Man in the Iron Mask (1977), which was ultimately released as a feature film, served as the springboard to international success. His formal theatrical debut, The Awakening (1980), starring Charlton Heston, began to cement Newell's reputation for getting the best results from his actors.

He worked in many genres with films such as Dance with a Stranger (1984) and Enchanted April (1991), among others. In 1994 he made Four Weddings and a Funeral, the record-breaking romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell. Returning to America, Newell made the Mafia thriller Donnie Brasco (1997), delivering outstanding performances from Johnny Depp and Al Pacino, followed by such films as Pushing Tin (1999), starring Cate Blanchett, John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie, and Mona Lisa Smile (2003), with Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Newell served as executive producer on several projects, including Traffic (2000) and High Fidelity (2000). As the director of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Newell became the first British director to helm an installment of the hugely popular franchise. Newell's recent credits include Colombia's Love in the Time of Cholera, an adaptation of the classic novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, starring Julio Bardem.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2010.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Mike Newell Facts

Birth Name Michael Cormac Newell
OccupationDirector
BirthdayMarch 28, 1942 (81)
SignAries
BirthplaceSt. Albans, England, United Kingdom
Awards1995 BAFTA Awards: David Lean Award for Direction (for Four Weddings and a Funeral)

Selected Filmography

Not available.