BIOGRAPHY

KATHRYN BIGELOW

Kathryn Bigelow (I)Director | Producer | Writer

Date of Birth 27 November 1951, San Carlos, California, USA
Birth Name Kathryn Ann Bigelow
Height 5' 11½" (1.82 m)


A very talented painter, Kathryn spent two years at the San Francisco Art Institute. At 20, she won a scholarship to the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program. She was given a studio in a former Offtrack Betting building, literally in an old bank vault, where she made art and waited to be critiqued by people like Richard Serra, Robert Rauschenberg and Susan Sontag. Later she earned a scholarship to study film at Columbia University School of Arts, graduating in 1979. She was also a member of the British avant garde cultural group, Art and Language. Kathryn is the only child of the manager of a paint factory and a librarian.


Spouse (1)

James Cameron (17 August 1989 - 1991) (divorced)

Frequently casts Tom Sizemore
Often uses first person perspectives (Wire trip scenes in Strange Days (1995) and the chase scenes in Point Break (1991)).
Frequently uses slow motion, particularly in action scenes.

Member of the 'Official Compeition' jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2003.
Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the Venice International Film Festival in 1998.
Member of the 'Dramatic' jury at the Sundance International Film Festival in 1990.
Received a Dallas Star award from the AFI Dallas film festival in 2009.
The American Cinematheque honored Bigelow by showing all of her films at The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, June 5-7 2009.
From July 1st to July 13th, 2009, the Harvard Film Archive hosted a retrospective of Bigelow's career, showing all of her films from 1982's The Loveless (1981) to 2008's The Hurt Locker (2008). The retrospective was titled "Take It To The Edge: The Films Of Kathryn Bigelow" and featured a Question and Answer session with Bigelow.
Ex-sister-in-law of Mike Cameron.
The 2010 Santa Barbara International Film Festival hosted 'A Celebration of Kathryn Bigelow', which featured a retrospective of her work.
First woman to win the Director's Guild of America Award for directing a feature film (for The Hurt Locker (2008)).
Taught at the California Institute of the Arts.
In 2010, she became the first woman in Oscar history to win the Best Director award.
First woman to win a BAFTA Award for Best Director.
When she sent an unfinished short feature to Columbia University's film school, director Milos Forman then also serving as a professor there, found it impressive enough to offer Bigelow a scholarship. She graduated from Columbia in 1979.
Was the fourth woman to be nominated for the Directing Academy Award. The other three were: Lina Wertmüller, Jane Campion and Sofia Coppola. Bigelow ended up becoming the first woman to win the award.
Competed with ex-husband James Cameron for the Best Director Oscar in 2010. This marked the first time that (ex-)spouses were nominated alongside each other in this category. She went on to win the award.
One of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World (2010).
Kathryn Bigelow has works in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection, including Near Dark (1987), a 1987 feature-length film, and her personal paper archive. In summer 2011, she will be the subject of a comprehensive retrospective.
Bigelow's Best Director Oscar statuette for The Hurt Locker (2008) was presented to her by Barbra Streisand, the only woman ever to have won the Golden Globe for Best Director. (7 March 2010 / Kodak Theatre).
Hung out with Susan Sontag and Philip Glass when she first came to New York City in the 1970. She and Glass even collaborated on a business venture where they bought old loft places in Soho and Tribeca, renovated them and then sold them. Bigelow says she was often the one who sanded the floors.
As of 2013, Bigelow has directed 2 actors to Academy Award-nominated performances: Jeremy Renner (Best Actor, The Hurt Locker (2008)), and Jessica Chastain (Best Actress, Zero Dark Thirty (2012)).
Directed 2 actors in Oscar nominated performances: Jeremy Renner and Jessica Chastain.
She visited Argentina to promote the movie The Hurt Locker (2008) in Mar del Plata International Film Festival, which this movie opened the mentioned festival. [November 2008]