Frears, Stephen Arthur (1941– )

English film director. He received international acclaim for My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), a low-budget study of racial, social, and gay prejudice, written by Hanif Kureishi. Other films include adaptations of the 18th-century novel Dangerous Liaisons (1988), the Nick Hornby comedy High Fidelity (2000), and the Elizabeth II biopic The Queen (2006).

Frears' second collaboration with Kureishi was Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987). Other films include Prick Up Your Ears (1987), a life of the playwright Joe Orton; The Snapper (1993) and The Van (1996), both adaptations of novels by Roddy Doyle; The Grifters (1990), a simmering crime thriller based on a novel by Jim Thompson; the ironic comedy Accidental Hero (1992); and the thriller Dirty Pretty Things (2003).

Frears was born in Leicester. After reading law at Cambridge, he worked as assistant to Lindsay Anderson at the Royal Court Theatre, London, and on his films If .. (1968) and O Lucky Man! (1973). He was already known as a dependable TV director by the time he made his first feature, the detective spoof Gumshoe (1971). The gangster comedy The Hit (1984) was a cult success.