Payne, Alexander (1961– )

US director and screenwriter. Known for his sharp, satirical films, he wrote and directed Citizen Ruth (1996), Election (1999), About Schmidt (2002), and the critical and commercial success Sideways (2004).

The abortion debate satire Citizen Ruth featured US actor Laura Dern as a destitute, amoral drug-user who becomes a symbol for both pro-life and pro-choice advocates. Election, a satire of US politics based on a high-school student government election, starred Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon. About Schmidt was a darkly comic odyssey of a middle-class man going into retirement and starred Jack Nicholson. Sideways, a comedy about a road trip in California's wine country, starred Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church and earned five Academy Award nominations in 2005.

Payne was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and his home town is often the setting for his work. After graduating from Stanford University in California with degrees in history and Spanish literature, he earned a master's of fine arts in filmmaking from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). The film for his thesis, The Passion of Martin (1989), aired at over 20 film festivals, including the influential Sundance festival. He worked for Universal Pictures and produced several short films during the next few years. He wrote and directed ‘My Secret Moments’, one of the nine vignettes for Playboy's Inside Out (1992). He also collaborated on the screenplay for Jurassic Park III (2001) and executive produced, with actor Leonardo DiCaprio, The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004). He married actor Sandra Oh, who had a strong supporting role in Sideways, in 2003.