British artist, born 1941
One of his uncles was a baker in Leicester, while another was head of Frears Biscuits, a nationally-known brand until the company was taken over.
He was hired to direct the canceled film "Jinx", the spin-off of Halle Berry s character from Die Another Day .
Father of actor Sam Frears and stage director Will Frears from his first marriage, and Frankie Frears and Lola Frears from his second.
Won the The Empire Inspiration Award at the Sony Ericsson Empire Awards 2006
Has directed seven Oscar nominated performances: Glenn Close , Michelle Pfeiffer , Anjelica Huston , Annette Bening , Helen Mirren , Judi Dench and Meryl Streep. Mirren won for The Queen .
Studied Law at Cambridge University.
Was an assistant to director Lindsay Anderson and actor Albert Finney at Londons Royal Court Theatre.
Holds the "David Lean Chair in Fiction Direction" from the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, England.
President of the Official Competition jury at the 60th Cannes International Film Festival in 2007.
Ranked #63 on the 2008 Telegraphs list "the 100 most powerful people in British culture".
Hes a fan of "Breaking Bad" .
I like a lot of takes. I just go on until the actors get it right.
The only way you can learn about making films is by making them, by,putting your stamp on the thing.
I should never have done Mary Reilly (1996) . I knew that before I,started. It was full of great design and photography, but it should,have been a little BBC film.
In My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) and,Dangerous Liaisons (1988) you could see where the money was,going but with "Hero" (1992) we had $42m to deal with, and it was,flying all over the place. .
