Born in Salford in 1943, Mike Leigh trained as an actor and theatre director. He is known for a method in which he builds characters and scenes with his actors through months of improvisation before any script exists. His films examine the lives of ordinary working and middle-class British people with comedy and compassion. Naked (1993) won him the best director prize at Cannes, and Secrets & Lies (1996) won the Palme d'Or. Vera Drake (2004) won the Golden Lion at Venice.
Filmography
- Bleak Moments (1971)
- Meantime (1983)
- High Hopes (1988)
- Life Is Sweet (1990)
- A Sense of History (1992)
- Naked (1993)
- Secrets & Lies (1996)
- Career Girls (1997)
- Topsy-Turvy (1999)
- All or Nothing (2002)
- Vera Drake (2004)
- Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
- Another Year (2010)
- Mr. Turner (2014)
- Peterloo (2018)
- Hard Truths (2024)