BIOGRAPHY
STEVEN SODERBERGH
Steven SoderberghProducer | Director | Cinematographer
Date of Birth 14 January 1963, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Birth Name Steven Andrew Soderbergh
Height 6' (1.83 m)
Steven Andrew Soderbergh was born on January 14, 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, the second of six children of Mary Ann (Bernard) and Peter Soderbergh. His father was of Swedish and Irish descent, and his mother was of Italian ancestry. While he was still at a very young age, his family moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where his father was a professor and the dean of the College of Education at Louisiana State University. While still in high school, around the age of 15, Soderbergh enrolled in the university's film animation class and began making short 16-millimeter films with second-hand equipment, one of which was the short film "Janitor". After graduating high school, he went to Hollywood, where he worked as a freelance editor. His time there was brief and, shortly after, he returned home and continued making short films and writing scripts.
His first major break was in 1986 when the rock group Yes assigned him to shoot a full-length concert film for the band, which eventually earned him a Grammy nomination for the video, Yes: 9012 Live (1985). Following this achievement, Soderbergh filmed Winston (1987), the short-subject film that he would later expand into Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), a film that earned him the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or Award, the Independent Spirit Award for Best Director, and an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Over the next six years, he was married to actress Betsy Brantley and had a daughter named Sarah Soderbergh, who was born in 1990.
Also during this time, he made such films as Kafka (1991), King of the Hill (1993), The Underneath (1995) and Gray's Anatomy (1996), which many believed to be disappointments. In 1998, Soderbergh made Out of Sight (1998), his most critically and commercially successful film since Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989). Then, in 2000, Soderbergh directed two major motion pictures that are now his most successful films to date: Erin Brockovich (2000) and Traffic (2000). These films were both nominated for Best Picture Oscars at the 2001 Academy Awards and gave him the first twin director Oscar nomination in almost 60 years and the first ever win. He won the Oscar for Best Director for Traffic (2000) at the 2001 Oscars.
Spouse (2)
Jules Asner (10 May 2003 - present)
Betsy Brantley (2 December 1989 - 1994) (divorced) (1 child)
Use of ambient-music scores by Cliff Martinez
Frequently casts Don Cheadle, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Topher Grace, Luis Guzmán, Eddie Jemison, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Julia Roberts and works with producer Jerry Weintraub.
Frequently uses jump-cuts
Often acts as his own cinematographer under the pseudonym "Peter Andrews"
Often includes a company named "Perennial" in his films (e.g. Traffic (2000), The Limey (1999), Out of Sight (1998) and The Underneath (1995)).
Father, Peter Soderbergh, was a professor and dean of the College of Education at Louisiana State University where Steven took some classes.
Steven's paternal grandfather was a Swedish immigrant ("Soderbergh" is a Swedish surname), while Steven's paternal grandmother had Irish ancestry. All of Steven's maternal great-grandparents were Italian immigrants. His mother's surname was changed from "Bernardi" to "Bernard".
In 2001, he became the first director in 62 years to have twin Best Director Oscar nominations for Erin Brockovich (2000) and Traffic (2000). The last director to do that was Michael Curtiz with twin nominations for Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and Four Daughters (1938). Soderbergh topped Curtiz by going on to win the Oscar for Traffic (2000).
Became the youngest winner ever of the Palme d'Or at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival for Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), his feature film directorial debut. He was 26.
Daughter Sarah Soderbergh (born in February 1990) with Betsy Brantley.
Elected first vice president of the Directors Guild of America in March 2002.
Ranked #39 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #35 in 2002.
Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003
Was offered the chance to direct Quiz Show (1994), with Tim Robbins in the role of Charles Van Doren.
Has directed three actors to Oscar nominations: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney and Benicio Del Toro. Roberts and Del Toro won the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor Oscars, respectively, for Erin Brockovich (2000) and Traffic (2000).
Was a member of the dramatic jury at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival in Utah in 1990, just one year after he had apologetically unveiled Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), his directorial debut, which he then considered to be unpolished and technically incomplete.
At one point, was interested in directing Fantastic Four (2005).
He and his producing partner George Clooney have decided to close down their Section Eight production company after six years of working partnership. [August 2006].
Is the only director to have had two films (Traffic (2000) and Erin Brockovich (2000)) receive Best Director nominations in the same year for the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, and the Directors' Guild of America.
During his early days in Los Angeles, he rented an above-garage room from the Gyllenhaal family: director Stephen Gyllenhaal, screenwriter Naomi Foner and their young children, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal.
He has acknowledged that he fathered a baby girl born in 2010 with an Australian woman named Frances Anderson despite being married to Jules Asner.
Is a member of the advisory council for Brooklyn College's Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema.
Along with Ernst Lubitsch, Jack Conway, Michael Curtiz, Victor Fleming, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Sam Wood, Francis Ford Coppola and Herbert Ross, he is one of ten directors to have more than one film nominated for Best Picture in the same year. Erin Brockovich (2000) and Traffic (2000) were both so nominated at the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001.
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