Following the lead of such esteemed stage directors as Nicholas Hytner and Sam Mendes, Stephen Daldry made his name in the British theater world before he moved to films, succeeding on his first cinematic foray with Billy Elliot (2000).
U.K. native Daldry began his stage career early in life, doing youth theater and spending time as a circus clown. After attending university at Sheffield, Daldry headed to London, where he began to draw attention for his work at the fringe theater the Gate. Daldry went on to direct over 100 plays, including the long-running, 1992 Tony Award-winning revival of An Inspector Calls and David Hare's one-man show Via Dolorosa, and was appointed the director of the Royal Court Theatre at age 32.
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