Samantha "Sam" Taylor-Wood OBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 4 March 1967), born
Samantha Taylor, is an English filmmaker, photographer, and visual artist. Her directorial feature film debut came in 2009 with
Nowhere BoyNowhere Boy is a 2009 British biopic about John Lennon's adolescence, his relationships with his guardian aunt and his birth mother, the creation of his first band, the Quarrymen, and its evolution into the Beatles. The film is based on a biography written by Lennon's half-sister Julia Baird...
, a film based on the childhood experiences of
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
songwriter and singer
John LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
. She is one of a group of artists known as the
Young British ArtistsYoung British Artists or YBAs is the name given to a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London, in 1988...
.
Early life and career
Taylor-Wood was born in
CroydonCroydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
, England. Writing in
The Telegraph, journalist Anna van Praag said Taylor-Wood was born "to a yoga-teacher and astrologist mother, Taylor-Wood's biker father left when she was nine. It prompted her mother to enroll the family in a commune in Sussex, where they wore orange robes and took Sanskrit names, all of which Taylor-Wood hated."
Fine art career
Taylor-Wood began exhibiting fine art photography in the early-1990s. One collaboration with
Henry BondHenry Bond is an English writer, photographer curator, and visual artist. In his Lacan at the Scene , Bond made a contribution to theoretical psychoanalysis....
, titled
26 October 1993, featured Bond and Taylor-Wood reprising the roles of
Yoko Onois a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
and
John LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
in a
pasticheA pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
of the photo-portrait made—by photographer
Annie LeibovitzAnna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer.-Early life and education:Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, Leibovitz is the third of six children. She is a third-generation American whose great-grandparents were Jewish immigrants, from Central and Eastern Europe. Her father's...
—a few hours before Lennon was assassinated, in 1980. In 1994, she exhibited a multi-screen video work titled
Killing Time, in which four people mimed to an opera score. From that point multi-screen video works became the main focus of Taylor-Wood's work. Beginning with the video works
Travesty of a Mockery and
Pent-Up in
1996-Awards:*Archibald Prize – Wendy Sharpe, Self Portrait as Diana of Erskineville*Jan Amos Comenius Medal – Yaacov Agam, for the "Agam Method" for visual education of young children* The Inaugural Hugo Boss Prize – Matthew Barney...
. Taylor-Wood was nominated for the annual
Turner PrizeThe Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
in 1998, but lost out to the painter Chris Ofili. She won the Illy Café Prize for Most Promising Young Artist at the 1997
Venice BiennaleThe Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
. In
2002-Events:*10 July – At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting The Massacre of the Innocents is sold for £49.5million to Lord Thomson of Fleet....
, Taylor-Wood was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to make a video portrait of
David BeckhamDavid Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
—whom she depicted sleeping. She is perhaps best known for her work entitled 'Crying Men' which features many of Hollywood's
glitterati crying, including
Robin WilliamsRobin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
,
Sean PennSean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
,
Laurence FishburneLaurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...
, and
Paul NewmanPaul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
.
Nowhere Boy
In August 2008, Taylor-Wood was chosen to direct
Nowhere Boy, a biopic about the childhood of
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
singer, John Lennon.
Speaking about her experience directing the movie, in September 2010, Taylor-Wood said,
"I thought, 'I'm in too deep and if I mess this up I'm just never gonna make a film again,' and I went into a panic. I got into the car and said, 'I just have to call these producers and pull out. I got into the car and I put the key into the ignition and Lennon's voice came straight out of the radio and it was [the Lennon song] Starting Over. It was one of those moments where I thought it was a sign: 'OK I'm gonna do it.'"
The 53rd annual London Film Festival screened the film as its closing presentation on 29 October 2009. The film was released in the UK on Boxing Day, 2009. Charles Gant, writing in
The GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
—three weeks after the film's national release—said that the film had "extremely disappointing receipts." Taylor-Wood was nominated for a BAFTA award on 21 January 2010, but lost out to
Duncan JonesDuncan Zowie Haywood Jones , also known as Zowie Bowie is an English film director, best known for directing the science fiction films Moon and Source Code .-Childhood and family life:...
.
After five weeks on release in the USA, as of November 7, 2010, the film had taken $1,196,019.
Other film and television work
In 2008, Taylor-Wood directed a short film
Love You MoreLove You More is a short drama directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, written by Patrick Marber and produced by Anthony Minghella, which was screened in Main Competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. The film includes two songs by Buzzcocks and features a cameo appearance by the band's...
, written by
Patrick MarberPatrick Albert Crispin Marber is an English comedian, playwright, director, puppeteer, actor and screenwriter.-Early life and education:...
and produced by
Anthony MinghellaAnthony Minghella, CBE was an English film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was Chairman of the Board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007....
. The film includes two songs by
BuzzcocksBuzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton in 1976, led by singer–songwriter–guitarist Pete Shelley.They are regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, pop punk and indie rock. They achieved commercial...
and features a cameo appearance by the band's lead singer
Pete ShelleyPete Shelley is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the leader of Buzzcocks.-Biography:...
. In February 2009, Sam Taylor-Wood, collaborating with
Sky ArtsSky Arts and Sky Arts HD is the brand name for a group of art-oriented television channels offering 18 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music...
chose to interpret
Vesti la Giubba"Vesti la giubba" is a famous tenor aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo's 1892 opera Pagliacci. "Vesti la giubba" is the conclusion of the first act, when Canio discovers his wife's infidelity, but must nevertheless prepare for his performance as Pagliaccio the clown because "the show must go on".The...
from
PagliacciPagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
. She commented: "I’m really happy to be involved in such a great project. I think by capturing one of opera's most moving moments in a film short, we have put a modern spin on the aria." In 2011, she directed the music video of "
Überlin"Überlin" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M., from the band's fifteenth studio album Collapse into Now. It was released as the second single from the album on January 25, 2011....
" by
R.E.M.R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
. The clip stars her fiance
Aaron Johnson, who, "throws some kung-fu kicks, attempts some pirouettes, prances, punches the air, chicken walks, tries out some bunny impressions, and, at one point, fondles his bottom."
Personal life
In the early 1990s, Taylor-Wood was in a relationship with artist
Henry BondHenry Bond is an English writer, photographer curator, and visual artist. In his Lacan at the Scene , Bond made a contribution to theoretical psychoanalysis....
.
On 19 September 2008, Taylor-Wood and her art dealer husband,
Jay JoplingJeremy "Jay" Jopling is an English art dealer and gallery owner. He is closely associated with the YBA artists and his gallery White Cube represents the commercial interests of YBAs Jake & Dinos Chapman, Tracey Emin, Marcus Harvey, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Marc Quinn, and Sam Taylor-Wood, whom he...
—with whom she has two daughters, aged five and thirteen—announced their eleven-year marriage was over, and they were separating amicably.
Taylor-Wood overcame two spells of cancer. When she was 30, she suffered from late-diagnosed colon cancer. Three years later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She claims that chemotherapy saved her life, together with her own will to live.
Taylor-Wood is in a relationship with her
Nowhere BoyNowhere Boy is a 2009 British biopic about John Lennon's adolescence, his relationships with his guardian aunt and his birth mother, the creation of his first band, the Quarrymen, and its evolution into the Beatles. The film is based on a biography written by Lennon's half-sister Julia Baird...
star,
Aaron Johnson. As of 31 October 2009, the couple are engaged to be married. On July 7, 2010, Taylor-Wood gave birth to their first child, daughter Wylda Rae Johnson. On July 29, 2011 it became known that the couple are expecting their second child.
In 2009, Taylor-Wood made a cash payment of £11 million for a detached townhouse in Primrose Hill, London.
Taylor-Wood was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the
2011 Birthday HonoursThe Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth Realms were announced on 7 June 2011 in New Zealand and 11 June 2011 in United Kingdom to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2011.-Privy Councillors:...
for services to the arts.
External links