Sam Mendes

Samuel Alexander Mendes (born August 1, 1965) is a British stage and film director born in Reading, Berkshire, England. Although English by birth, he is the son of a Portuguese Catholic father and a Jewish mother was born in England. His father, Peter, is the son of the writer Alfred Mendes, author of the novels Black Fauns and Pitch Lake, and part of the group around CLR James and Albert Gomes which produced the Beacon literary magazine in the early 1930s. His secondary education was at Magdalen College School, Oxford, and he later attended the University of Cambridge. As a stage director, he is probably best known for his 1998 production of Cabaret, starring Alan Cumming.

Film

• 1999: Film directorial debut: American Beauty; won and Academy Award for Directing.
• 2002: Road to Perdition (based on graphic novel by Max Allan Collins)
• 2005: Jarhead
• 2006: The Kite Runner
• 2006: Sweeney Todd