Anthony Minghella’s film THE ENGLISH PATIENT, which he wrote and directed, won nine Academy Awards in 1996 including Best Picture and Best Director. Based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje, the film starred Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Kristin Scott Thomas and Willem Dafoe and was honored with 30 film awards overall, including two Golden Globes, six BAFTA Awards, the Writer’s Guild Award for Best Screenplay and the The Scripters Award for Best Director.
Minghella went on to win the 1999 Best Director Award from the National Board of Review for his film THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, based on the classic crime novel by Patricia Highsmith and starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law. In 2000, Minghella was named by American Theater owners as ShoWest’s Director of the Year.
COLD MOUNTAIN (2003) starring Jude Law and Nicole Kidman adapted by Minghella from the novel by Charles Frazier received seven Oscar nominations, seven Golden Globe Nominations and eleven BAFTA nominations. Renée Zellweger won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Ruby.
Minghella’s first film as a writer/director, TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY, starred Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman and won over audiences in Britain and America, receiving several prizes including a BAFTA and a Writer’s Guild Award. Minghella has also directed MR. WONDERFUL with Matt Dillon, Mary Louise Parker and William Hurt.
Anthony Minghella was born in 1954 on the Isle of Wight of Italian parents. Until 1981, he lectured on drama at the University of Hull. His stage plays are “Child’s Play”, “Whale Music”, “A Little Like Drowning”, “Two Planks and A Passion”, “Made in Bangkok” and “Love Bites”. Minghella’s television trilogy WHAT IF IT’S RAINING? was acclaimed throughout Europe. He created and regularly contributed to the television series INSPECTOR MORSE, and wrote all nine of the short television films in THE STORYTELLER series for Jim Henson and NBC, which won an Emmy and BAFTA Award as well as the Gold Medal at the New York International Film and Television Festival. Minghella’s radio plays include “Hang Up” and “Cigarettes and Chocolate.”
Minghella was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Hull and the University of Southampton. Since 2000, he has been with Sydney Pollack joint-owner of Mirage Enterprises serving as executive producer on the company’s films HEAVEN, IRIS and THE QUIET AMERICAN. Anthony Minghella was recently named the head of the British Film Institute.
The Weinstein Company
