Biography

JOHN MADDEN was born in Portsmouth and educated at Clifton College and Cambridge. He began his career as Artistic Director of the Oxford and Cambridge Shakespeare Company, moving later to the BBC to work in television and radio drama. He moved to America in 1975 to develop radio drama with EARPLAY, the National Public Radio drama project. Winning the Prix Italia with Arthur Kopit's WINGS, he subsequently directed the play for the stage at Yale, Broadway and the National Theatre in London. Further stage work included the premieres of Jules Feiffer's GROWN UPS, Christopher Durang's BEYOND THERAPY, and Arnold Wesker's CARITAS. During this time he taught in the acting and playwriting programmes at the Yale School of Drama. In 1984 he began to work extensively in film, directing for the BBC and for commercial television. His films included POPPYLAND, AFTER THE WAR - a series of films by Frederic Raphael, THE WIDOWMAKER, and several films in the INSPECTOR MORSE series. He returned to America in 1990 to make his first feature film: ETHAN FROME, adapted by Richard Nelson from Edith Wharton's novella, staring Liam Neeson and Patricia Arquette, followed by GOLDEN GATE, a story of cultural collision in Chinatown, San Francisco in the 1950's and 60's. The film was written by David Hwang and stars Matt Dillon and Joan Chen. PRIME SUSPECT - THE LOST CHILD received a BAFTA nomination for Best Series and his BBC film TRUTH OR DARE, starring John Hannah and Helen Baxendale, won the Scottish BAFTA for Best Single Drama. His film MRS BROWN, screenplay by Jeremy Brock, starring Dame Judi Dench and Billy Connolly, received two Oscar and eight BAFTA nominations, including Best Film. His film SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, screenplay by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman, stars Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Ben Affleck, Dame Judi Dench and Tom Wilkinson. It has received three Golden Globe Awards, four BAFTA's and seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. John’s film CAPTAIN CORELLI’S MANDOLIN is based on the best-selling novel by Louis de Bernieres. It starred Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Christian Bale, David Morrissey and John Hurt. John directed the Pulitzer Prize winning play PROOF by David Auburn at the Donmar Warehouse, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. He then directed the screen version of PROOF with Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal and Hope Davis. John has recently finished making KILLSHOT, a movie based on Elmore Leonard’s novel, starring Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Thomas Jane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Rosario Dawson. John Madden is married and lives in London.