Christopher Hampton won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Dangerous Liaisons, which he adapted from his own stage play (itself an adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses). The film version was directed by Stephen Frears and starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Uma Thurman. The film also brought Mr. Hampton BAFTA, London Film Critics Circle, and Writers Guild of America Awards.
Born in the Azores, he lived in Aden, Egypt and Zanzibar as a child. As a teenager, he went to New College, Oxford to study German and French, and graduated with a First Class Honours Degree.
While at Oxford, Mr. Hampton became involved in theater, and became the youngest writer ever to have a play staged in the West End. His early playwriting credits include Total Eclipse, The Philanthropist, Savages, and Treats, all staged the Royal Court Theatre; and translations of such classics as Uncle Vanya, Hedda Gabler, A Doll's House, and Don Juan.
In addition to Dangerous Liaisons with the Royal Shakespeare Company, his subsequent theater work includes the stage adaptation of Sunset Boulevard for Andrew Lloyd Webber, which brought Mr. Hampton Tony Awards for both Book and Lyrics; Tales from Hollywood; an adaptation of Tartuffe, also for the Royal Shakespeare Company; and Talking Cure,for the National Theatre. Mr. Hampton's translation of Yasmina Reza's Art won Olivier and Tony Awards, and ran for 2,500 performances in the West End.
His teleplays include The History Man, adapted from Malcolm Bradbury's novel and directed by Robert Knights; Tartuffe, adapted from Molière's play and directed by Bill Alexander; the BAFTA Award-winning Hotel du Lac, adapted from Anita Brookner's novel and directed by Giles Foster; the miniseries The Ginger Tree, adapted from Oswald Wynd's novel; and Tales from Hollywood, directed by Howard Davies.
Mr. Hampton's screenwriting credits include A Doll's House, adapted from Henrik Ibsen's play and directed by Patrick Garland; The Good Father, adapted from Peter Prince's novel and directed by Mike Newell; Agnieszka Holland's Total Eclipse; and, with Robert Schenkkan, The Quiet American, based on the Graham Greene novel and directed by Phillip Noyce.
He has directed and adapted three films to date. These are Carrington, based on Michael Holroyd's book, for which Mr. Hampton was awarded Special Jury Prize at the 1995 Cannes International Film Festival, where the film's star Jonathan Pryce was also chosen Best Actor; The Secret Agent, based on the Joseph Conrad novel and starringBob Hoskins and Patricia Arquette; and Imagining Argentina, based on Lawrence Thornton's novel and starring Antonio Banderas and Emma Thompson.
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