Stephen Daldry began his stage career doing youth theatre in Taunton,
England, before attending Sheffield University. He served an apprenticeship
at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield from 1985 to 1988. Daldry then
headed to London, where he trained at the East 15 Acting School and
began to draw attention for his work at the fringe Gate Theatre between
1990 and 1992. At the age of 32, Daldry was appointed artistic director
at the Royal Court Theatre from 1992 to 1997, and went on to direct
the long running, Tony Award-winning revival of J.B. Priestley's An
Inspector Calls and David Hare's monologue Via Dolorosa.
In 1997, the British production company Working Title began to groom
Daldry for a movie career by handing him a three-film deal, starting
with the BAFTA-nominated short film Eight (1998). Taking a leave of
absence from the theatre, Daldry subsequently directed his first feature
film, Dancer, re-titled Billy
Elliot (2000). Set against the backdrop of the 1984 miners strike
in northern England, the story tells of a young boy's desire to be a
ballet dancer. Daldry followed his freshman triumph by directing an
adaptation of the Michael Cunningham novel The Hours (2002).
