Woody Allen Biography

WOODY ALLEN

Date of Birth: December 1, 1935

Born Allen Stewart Konigsberg in Brooklyn, New York, this multi-talented actor, director, writer, and musician began his career as a comedian and playwright. He was a television gag writer before writing and starring in his first feature film, What's New, Pussycat?. Take the Money and Run marked Allen's directorial debut in a hilarious parody of crime films and documentaries.

Allen's films are characterized by their neurotic, urban-Jewish shtick and can be dated by the female lead—who is generally his current lover of choice. Past femmes include Louise Lasser, Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow.

Reclusive and anti-Hollywood, Allen's critical moment in the spotlight was not for his work as a filmmaker, but for his affair with Farrow's (college-age) adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. In 1992, Allen filed for custody of their three children and later made shocking headlines when Farrow accused him of molesting their adopted daughter Dylan. While experts found no evidence to substantiate these allegations, Allen's reputation had already been trashed in the tabloids. After a lengthy and very public court battle, Allen lost custody of the three children. He married Soon-Yi in December 1997 and the two now have two children together.

"If you're an entertainer," Allen says, "your private life is public, that's what happens. Over the years, I've got used to that. Sometimes they write wonderful things, sometimes they write what a fool you are. That's part of what it is to be in the public eye."

Over the years, Allen has won a number of awards, including three Academy Awards and two Golden Globes. His most recent Golden Globe was for his Midnight in Paris screenplay, although he received the honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2014. He also received two Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director for his work on the film. Allen followed up Midnight in Paris with To Rome With Love (2012), which follows the intersecting stories of both foreigners and Italians in Rome.

He went on to direct films such as Blue Jasmine (2013), starring Alec Baldwin and Cate Blanchett, Magic in the Moonlight (2014) starring Colin Firth and Emma Stone, Irrational Man (2015) starring Joaquin Phoenix, and Café Society (2016) starring Steve Carell and Jesse Eisenberg. His latest directorial credits are the drama Wonder Wheel (2017) starring Kate Winslet and Justin Timberlake and the romantic comedy A Rainy Day in New York (2019), starring Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning.

However, since Dylan Farrow's 2014 account in the New York Times about the abuse she claims to have suffered at the hands of Allen, several actors have expressed regret at having worked with him, with several, including Timothée Chalamet, donating their salaries to charities that help abused women and children.

Filmography (Director):

Wonder Wheel (2017)
Café Society (2016)
Irrational Man (2015)
Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
Blue Jasmine (2013)
To Rome with Love (2012)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
Whatever Works (2009)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Cassandra's Dream (2007)
Scoop (2006)
Match Point (2005)
Melinda and Melinda (2004)
Anything Else (2003)
Hollywood Ending (2002)
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)
Small Time Crooks (2000)
Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
Celebrity (1998)
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
Husbands and Wives (1992)
Shadows and Fog (1991)
Alice (1990)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
New York Stories (1989)
Another Woman (1988)
September (1987)
Radio Days (1987)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
Zelig (1983)
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)
Stardust Memories (1980)
Manhattan (1979)
Interiors (1978)
Annie Hall (1977)
Love and Death (1975)
Sleeper (1973)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972)
Bananas (1971)
Take the Money and Run (1969)
What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)