---
name: "Stephen Daldry"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/stephen-daldry"
fi1m_id: "stephen-daldry"
imdb_id: "nm0197636"
tmdb_id: 468
wikidata_id: "Q313506"
roles: ["Director","Producer"]
born: "2 May 1961"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 8
average_fi1m_score: 65
average_as: "director"
average_over: 7
updated: "2026-10-07T19:34:57.082808+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Stephen Daldry

## Identity

Stephen Daldry

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/stephen-daldry
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** stephen-daldry
- **IMDb ID:** nm0197636
- **TMDB ID:** 468
- **Wikidata ID:** Q313506
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Daldry, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q313506, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0197636/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/468

Director and producer. Born 2 May 1961 in Dorset, England.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer
- **Born:** 2 May 1961, Dorset, England
- **Active:** 2000–present
- **Also known as:** Stephan Daldry
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 8: 7 directing, 1 producing
- **Frequently works with:** [David Hare](https://film.one/person/david-hare.md), [Scott Rudin](https://film.one/person/scott-rudin.md)
- **Primetime Emmy Awards:** 1 Emmy (1 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 65, as director, over 7 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 70 (3), 2010s 61 (3), 2020s 64 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 65 to 63 across 7 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 4 at 60–79, 2 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 7, Comedy 2, Adventure 1, Crime 1, Music 1, Mystery 1
- **Screen time:** 11 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $382m across 5 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Daldry, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q313506, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0197636/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/468

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Reader*](https://film.one/film/the-reader.md) (56), [*Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close*](https://film.one/film/extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close.md) (41)
- **Netflix:** [*The Crown*](https://film.one/tv/the-crown.md) (78)
- **Tubi:** [*Together*](https://film.one/film/together-2021.md) (61)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Stephen Daldry

> Stephen Daldry is a gifted director of performers, particularly when feeling comes through movement. We rate him most when he trusts that work; his eagerness to move us can turn an affecting scene sentimental.

In *Billy Elliot* (2000), Jamie Bell and Julie Walters are allowed to be awkward together. Walters gives Mrs Wilkinson a briskness that keeps the lessons from becoming occasions to admire the teacher's goodness. Lee Hall's writing leaves space for comedy as well as instruction, and Daldry does not hurry the pair towards easy affection. We were moved by these scenes because the teacher takes Billy seriously without becoming endlessly agreeable. This is the Daldry we recommend: attentive to performers, prepared to let them be difficult.

His feature debut followed a theatre career, and its interest in what a body can express makes sense of that background. With *The Hours* (2002), he moved towards literary adaptation, keeping Michael Cunningham's stories across three eras clear and emotionally connected. *The Reader* (2008), adapted from Bernhard Schlink's novel, continued that turn. Across those changes, his concern stays with conflicted people and the actors who have to make their difficulties convincing.

That concern is helped by craft which can be easy to overlook when the performances work. In *Billy Elliot*, John Wilson's editing gives the dancing a pace the more familiar dramatic passages lack. Maria Djurkovic's production design makes the mining town credible, even when the screenplay risks treating its inhabitants as obstacles to Billy. The setting matters because the boy needs somewhere convincing to push against. Daldry's direction works best here when the physical excitement carries the feeling, without every movement needing an accompanying explanation.

His weakness is the extra encouragement he gives once the actors have done enough. Stephen Warbeck's music presses the tenderness in *Billy Elliot*, and some family confrontations labour for an emotion Bell and Walters reach more naturally. The warmth survives, but we occasionally wish Daldry would leave us to respond in our own time. The complaints about sentimentality in *Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close* (2011) concern a weakness already visible in the debut.

He has continued directing for the stage and television. He directed *Billy Elliot the Musical* (2005) and *The Inheritance* (2018), as well as episodes of *The Crown* (2016–). We would welcome more work that lets an actor's movement do as much as Bell's dancing does, without such persistent help from the music. Start with *Billy Elliot* for Bell and Walters; the sentiment requires some patience, but their work repays it.

## Biography

Stephen Daldry is an English director of film, theatre and television. He studied English at the University of Sheffield and began his career in theatre, serving as artistic director of the Gate Theatre (1989–1992) and the Royal Court Theatre (1992–1998) in London. He directed the stage production of *An Inspector Calls* (1992), which transferred to Broadway.

Daldry directed the films *Billy Elliot* (2000), *The Hours* (2002), *The Reader* (2008) and *Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close* (2011). He also directed episodes of the Netflix series *The Crown* (2016–2020) and the stage musical *Billy Elliot* (2005). He received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, three Tony Awards and was appointed CBE in 2004. He is married to Lucy Sexton.

*Sources: imdb.com, britannica.com, en.wikipedia.org.*

## On Fi1m (8)

### Directed (7) — the average rests on these

- *Together* (2021), Fi1m 61, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/together-2021.md)
- *The Crown* (2016), Fi1m 78, Director, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-crown.md)
- *Trash* (2014), Fi1m 64, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/trash.md)
- *Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close* (2011), Fi1m 41, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close.md)
- *The Reader* (2008), Fi1m 56, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-reader.md)
- *The Hours* (2002), Fi1m 72, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-hours.md)
- *Billy Elliot* (2000), Fi1m 81, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/billy-elliot.md)

### Produced (1)

- *The Swimmers* (2022), Fi1m 66, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-swimmers.md)

## Complete filmography (28)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *A Friend of Dorothy* (2025), Executive Producer
- *Unicorns* (2024), Executive Producer
- *The Walk* (2023), Executive Producer
- *A Cooler Climate* (2022), Thanks
- *The Swimmers* (2022), Executive Producer — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/the-swimmers.md)
- *Freedom: 50 Years of Pride* (2022), Executive Producer
- *Obi-Wan Kenobi* (2022), series, Consulting Producer
- *Together* (2021), Director — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/film/together-2021.md)
- *The Crown* (2016), series, Director, Executive Producer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-crown.md)
- *One Night In 2012* (2016), Actor
- *Darcey's Ballet Heroes* (2015), Actor
- *Trash* (2014), Director — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/trash.md)
- *Billy Elliot: The Musical Live* (2014), Stage Director
- *National Theatre Live: Skylight* (2014), Stage Director, Director
- *National Theatre Live: The Audience* (2013), Stage Director
- *London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder* (2012), Producer
- *Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close* (2011), Director — Fi1m 41, [page](https://film.one/film/extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close.md)
- *The Reader* (2008), Director — Fi1m 56, [page](https://film.one/film/the-reader.md)
- *Unlocked* (2006), Executive Producer
- *Guy X* (2005), Executive Producer
- *Mickybo and Me* (2005), Executive Producer
- *Cinema16: British Short Films* (2003), Director
- *The Hours* (2002), Director — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/the-hours.md)
- *Billy Elliot* (2000), Director — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/billy-elliot.md)
- *Eight* (1998), Director
- *Omnibus* (1967), series, Actor
- *Angels in the Asylum*, Executive Producer
- *Stranger Things: The First Shadow*, Director

## Gallery

- ![Stephen Daldry](https://film.one/media/person/96874/gallery-316fe07fbc90.jpg) Stephen Daldry — Siebbi, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Stephen_Daldry_%28Berlin_Film_Festival_2009%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Stephen Daldry in November 2013 (2014)](https://film.one/media/person/96874/gallery-d28682f79e5a.jpg) Stephen Daldry in November 2013 (2014) — Christopher William Adach from London, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Stephen_Daldry_2013.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 3 nominated

- 2009: Best Director (nominated), for *The Reader*
- 2003: Best Director (nominated), for *The Hours*
- 2001: Best Director (nominated), for *Billy Elliot*

### Primetime Emmy Awards — 1 won

- 2018: Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (won), for *The Crown*

### Other awards — 2 won, 3 nominated

- Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play 2015: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (nominated)
- European Film Award for Best Film 2009: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *The Reader*
- Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical 2009: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (won)
- European Film Award for Best Film 2000: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *Billy Elliot*
- Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play 1994: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/stephen-daldry