--- name: "Tate Taylor" canonical: "https://film.one/person/tate-taylor" fi1m_id: "tate-taylor" imdb_id: "nm0853238" tmdb_id: 55789 wikidata_id: "Q2639828" roles: ["Director","Producer"] born: "3 June 1969" reviewed_on_fi1m: 5 average_fi1m_score: 59 average_as: "director" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-10-05T00:18:23.463385+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." --- # Tate Taylor ## Identity Tate Taylor - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/tate-taylor - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** tate-taylor - **IMDb ID:** nm0853238 - **TMDB ID:** 55789 - **Wikidata ID:** Q2639828 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_Taylor_(filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2639828, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0853238/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/55789 Director and producer. Born 3 June 1969 in Jackson, Mississippi, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Director, Producer - **Born:** 3 June 1969, Jackson, Mississippi, USA - **Active:** 1996–2016 - **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 2 acting, 2 directing, 1 producing - **Average Fi1m score:** 59, as director, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 55 (1), 2000s 40 (1), 2010s 68 (3) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_Taylor_(filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2639828, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0853238/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/55789 ## Streaming the US now - **Tubi:** [*The Help*](https://film.one/film/the-help.md) (66) - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Girl on the Train*](https://film.one/film/the-girl-on-the-train.md) (52) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Tate Taylor > Tate Taylor gives actors room to make broadly written characters feel worth knowing. We value the warmth and humour, but *The Help* also exposes his weakness: an eagerness to reassure us when the people on screen deserve harder questions. In *The Help* (2011), Viola Davis’s Aibileen Clark speaks quietly enough to make us notice the effort of telling her story. Tate Taylor lets her take her time, and the growing trust between Aibileen and Emma Stone’s Skeeter Phelan gives the film its most convincing scenes. We were moved because Davis makes speaking to a willing listener feel risky. Taylor is worth watching for the space he gives his actors, though this sentimental drama too often hurries to reassure us. His feature debut, *Pretty Ugly People* (2008), preceded the breakthrough of *The Help*, which he adapted from Kathryn Stockett’s novel. After that came the James Brown biopic *Get On Up* (2014), with its non-linear structure, and the thriller adaptation *The Girl on the Train* (2016). *Ma* (2019) took him into psychological horror with Octavia Spencer in the lead. Spencer is a recurring collaborator, as is Allison Janney, and his working methods include improvisation and rehearsing at home. In *The Help*, Spencer’s Minny Jackson makes the shifts between comedy and hurt feel less laboured, her timing stopping the humour from becoming cosy. Jessica Chastain finds private vulnerability in the broadly written Celia Foote, another instance of an actor making Taylor’s approach work. The pleasure here comes from how much these actors find in parts whose outlines are easy to see. Taylor is less willing to question the characters he likes. Skeeter receives so much approval that the women whose experiences she helps turn into a book are left with less room than they need. Bryce Dallas Howard’s Hilly Holbrook is emphatically drawn, and the film’s account of segregation makes cruelty seem too easily put right by decent people. See *The Help* for Davis and Spencer, with patience for the assurances about Skeeter’s goodness. ## Biography Tate Taylor is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, he began his career as a production assistant and actor, appearing in films including *Romy and Michele's High School Reunion* (1997) and *Winter's Bone* (2010), and television series such as *Charmed* and *Six Feet Under*. He worked in New York City and Los Angeles for fifteen years before making his feature directorial debut with *Pretty Ugly People* (2008). Taylor achieved mainstream success with *The Help* (2011), which he directed and for which he wrote the screenplay, adapting Kathryn Stockett's novel. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and earned Taylor nominations for awards including the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He has since directed *Get On Up* (2014), *The Girl on the Train* (2016), *Ma* (2019) and *Ava* (2020), and episodes of series including *Grace and Frankie* (2015) and *Palm Royale* (2024). He has collaborated frequently with actresses Allison Janney and Octavia Spencer. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (5) ### Performed in (2) - *Winter's Bone* (2010), Fi1m 85, as Satterfield — [page](https://film.one/film/winters-bone.md) - *Planet of the Apes* (2001), Fi1m 40, as Friend at Leo's Party — [page](https://film.one/film/planet-of-the-apes-2001.md) ### Directed (2) — the average rests on these - *The Girl on the Train* (2016), Fi1m 52, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-girl-on-the-train.md) - *The Help* (2011), Fi1m 66, Screenplay, Executive Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-help.md) ### Produced (1) - *A Time to Kill* (1996), Fi1m 55, Production Assistant — [page](https://film.one/film/a-time-to-kill.md) ## Complete filmography (33) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Palm Royale* (2024), series, Director, Executive Producer - *Rumble Through the Dark* (2023), Executive Producer - *Breaking News in Yuba County* (2021), as Attractive Customer · Director, Producer - *Filthy Rich* (2020), series, Executive Producer, Teleplay, Director, Creator - *Ava* (2020), Director - *Ma* (2019), as Officer Grainger · Director, Producer - *The Girl on the Train* (2016), Director — Fi1m 52, [page](https://film.one/film/the-girl-on-the-train.md) - *Grace and Frankie* (2015), series, Director, Executive Producer - *Get On Up* (2014), Director, Producer - *The Help* (2011), Director, Screenplay, Executive Producer — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/the-help.md) - *Love and Distrust* (2010), as Dusty (segment "Auto Motives") · Producer - *Winter's Bone* (2010), as Satterfield — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/winters-bone.md) - *Prop 8: The Musical* (2008), as The Frightened Villagers - *Pretty Ugly People* (2008), as George's Boyfriend · Director, Writer, Producer - *Sordid Lives: The Series* (2008), series, as Richie Miller - *Breakin' All the Rules* (2004), as Attendant - *Chicken Party* (2003), as Luke Smith · Director, Writer, Producer - *A.U.S.A.* (2003), series, as Gung-Ho A.U.S.A. - *I Spy* (2002), as Lieutenant Percy - *Planet of the Apes* (2001), as Friend at Leo's Party — Fi1m 40, [page](https://film.one/film/planet-of-the-apes-2001.md) - *Six Feet Under* (2001), series, as Job Applicant #1 — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/six-feet-under.md) - *The Journeyman* (2001), as Chester Patton - *Queer as Folk* (2000), series, as Calvin - *Auto Motives* (2000), as Dusty · Producer - *Charmed* (1998), series, as Applicant #3 - *Romy and Michele's High School Reunion* (1997), as Casey - *A Time to Kill* (1996), Production Assistant — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/film/a-time-to-kill.md) - *The Drew Carey Show* (1995), series, as Jim - *The Adventures of Pete & Pete* (1993), series, Production Assistant - *Miss Macy*, Director - *The 17th Annual Coral Gables Christmas Caroling Extravaganza*, Director - *Ma 2*, Producer - *Cupid*, Director, Producer ## Gallery - ![2014 Deauville American Film Festival (France) - September 12, 2014. From left to right: Mick Jagger, Brian Grazer, Chadwick Boseman and Tate Taylor for the mov](https://film.one/media/person/104354/gallery-7877c554316e.jpg) 2014 Deauville American Film Festival (France) - September 12, 2014. From left to right: Mick Jagger, Brian Grazer, Chadwick Boseman and Tate Taylor for the mov — isabelle VERONESE from ELBEUF, France, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Get_on_Up_%2815285760432%29.jpg/1280px-Get_on_Up_%2815285760432%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Sean-Cross, Tate-Taylor, Allison-Janney, producer, Scott-Cross (2014)](https://film.one/media/person/104354/gallery-d1491ef5f7bc.jpg) Sean-Cross, Tate-Taylor, Allison-Janney, producer, Scott-Cross (2014) — VailFilmFest, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Sean-Cross%2C_Tate-Taylor%2C_Allison-Janney%2C_producer%2C_Scott-Cross.jpg/1280px-Sean-Cross%2C_Tate-Taylor%2C_Allison-Janney%2C_producer%2C_Scott-Cross.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Tate Taylor](https://film.one/media/person/104354/gallery-242489a98602.jpg) Tate Taylor — Image via TMDB --- © 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/tate-taylor