Sir Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is a British director and producer of film and television, often depicting real-life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply-drawn characters. He has received numerous accolades including three BAFTA Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph named Frears among the 100 most influential people in British culture. In 2009, he received the Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He received a knighthood in 2023 for his contributions to the film and television industries.
Born in Leicester and educated at Gresham's School in Norfolk and Trinity College, Cambridge, Frears started his career working as an assistant director in theatre and film while directing many television plays. Frears directed his debut feature film Gumshoe in 1971 and received critical acclaim for his films in the 1980s such as My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Prick Up Your Ears (1987), and Dangerous Liaisons (1988). He also received two Academy Award nominations for directing The Grifters (1990) and The Queen (2006).
Frears is also known for his work on various television programmes, including the television films Fail Safe (2000), The Deal (2003), and Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight (2013). He directed the Jeremy Thorpe BBC One biographical miniseries A Very English Scandal (2018), for which he earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
Frears was born on 20 June 1941 in Leicester, England. His mother, Ruth M. (née Danziger), was a social worker, and his father, Russell E. Frears, was a general practitioner and accountant. Frears was brought up Anglican. He did not learn that his mother was Jewish until he was in his late 20s.
From 1954 to 1959, Frears was educated at Gresham's School, an independent boarding school for boys (now co-educational) in the market town of Holt in Norfolk. This was followed by Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied between 1960 and 1963, earning a BA degree in Law.
At the University of Cambridge, Frears was assistant stage manager for the 1963 Footlights Revue, which starred Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Bill Oddie and David Hatch. After graduating from the university, Frears worked as an assistant director on the films Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966), directed by Karel Reisz, and if.... (1968), directed by Lindsay Anderson. Frears also worked with Albert Finney on Charlie Bubbles (1968).
With Finney's company Memorial Productions, Frears made The Burning, a 31-minute adaptation of a short story by Roland Starke. Although set in South Africa, it was filmed in Tangier. It was released theatrically attached to François Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black.
Frears spent most of his early directing career in television, mainly for the BBC but also for the commercial sector. He contributed to several anthology series, such as the BBC's Play for Today. He also produced a series of Alan Bennett's plays for LWT, including The Old Crowd (1979, director: Lindsay Anderson). His directorial film debut was the noir detective spoof Gumshoe (1971).
In the late 1980s, Frears came to international attention as a director of feature films. In 1985, Frears found widespread acclaim with My Beautiful Laundrette. Based on Hanif Kureishi's screenplay, the film focuses on an interracial gay romance. It received an Academy Award nomination and two nominations for BAFTA Awards. The success of the film helped launch the careers of both Frears and actor Daniel Day-Lewis.
Frears worked with Adrian Edmondson on Mr Jolly Lives Next Door, starring Peter Cook and Nicholas Parsons as part of The Comic Strip Presents series of self-contained comedy tv films, this being one of the first in that strand to receive a limited theatrical release ahead of broadcast. It aired as a 45-minute programme on Channel Four in 1988. Frears had previously directed a nascent Comic Strip parody of TV show The Professionals in 1982/3, and another of Daphne Du Maurier's 1938 novel Rebecca starring French and Saunders, Consuela in 1985, this formed the first of the duo's parody films for which they became well known.
Frears next directed the Joe Orton biopic Prick Up Your Ears (1987), a collaboration with playwright Alan Bennett. His second film adapted from a Kureishi screenplay was Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987).
In 1988, Frears directed Dangerous Liaisons to widespread critical acclaim. The film was shot in France, with a cast that included Americans Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Michelle Pfeiffer, and Uma Thurman. Based on the late 18th-century French novel of romantic game-playing and adapted by Christopher Hampton, the film received seven Academy Award nominations. These included for Best Picture and Best Actress for Glenn Close and Best Supporting Actress for Michelle Pfeiffer. The film also received ten British Academy Film Award nominations, including for Frears for Best Direction.
In 1990, Frears directed the neo-noir crime thriller The Grifters, starring John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, and Annette Bening. Martin Scorsese served as a producer on the film. The film won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film, and was declared one of the Top 10 films of 1990 by The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Frears was also nominated for the US Academy Award for Best Director.
In 1992, Frears directed the comedy drama Hero, released in the United Kingdom as Accidental Hero. The film starred Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, Andy Garcia, and Joan Cusack. Many critics compared the film to those of Preston Sturges and Frank Capra, as did Roger Ebert, who wrote, "It [the film] has all the ingredients for a terrific entertainment, but it lingers over the kinds of details that belong in a different kind of movie. It comes out of the tradition of those rat-a-tat Preston Sturges comedies of the 1940s." While the film was met with generally positive critical reviews, it was not a box office success. Columbia Pictures lost $25.6 million.
Frears has also directed two films adapted from novels by Roddy Doyle, The Snapper (1993) and The Van (1996). Frears's other films include the horror film Mary Reilly and the Western The Hi-Lo Country (1998).
In 2000, Frears directed High Fidelity starring John Cusack, Jack Black, Lisa Bonet, and Joan Cusack. The film is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby. It is set in Chicago rather than London, and the name of the lead character was changed. After seeing the film, Hornby expressed his happiness with Cusack's performance, saying that "at times, it appears to be a film in which John Cusack reads my book".
The film received positive reviews from critics and has a score of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 165 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The critical consensus states: "The deft hand of director Stephen Frears and strong performances by the ensemble cast combine to tell an entertaining story with a rock-solid soundtrack."
In 2002, Frears directed social thriller, Dirty Pretty Things, a film about two immigrants living in London. The film starred Audrey Tautou, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. It won a British Independent Film Award for Best Independent British Film in 2003. For his performance as Okwe, Chiwetel Ejiofor won the 2003 British Independent Film Award for Best Actor.