Allen, Woody (1935– )

US film writer, director, and actor. One of the true auteurs of contemporary US cinema, Allen has written, directed, and frequently acted in a number of comic and dramatic works which are informed by his personal aesthetic, religious, and sexual preoccupations. One of his most successful and critically acclaimed works is Annie Hall (1977), which won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actress.

Allen was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a middle-class Jewish family. In the early 1960s he began performing on the comedy circuit in New York, using a neurotic, angst-ridden persona. He then began to write and perform in plays and films, his first being What's New Pussycat? (1965). He went on to make a large number of comedies, combining light-hearted humour with increasingly serious themes of romantic and family relationships. These included Play It Again, Sam (1972), Sleeper (1973), Manhattan (1979), Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986; Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay), Radio Days (1987), Crimes and Misdemeanours, (1989) and Deconstructing Harry (1997). He has also made more serious drama films such as Interiors (1978), Another Woman (1988), and Husbands and Wives (1992). Actors particularly associated with his work include Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow.

Other films include Take the Money and Run (1969), Bananas (1971), Love and Death (1975), Stardust Memories (1982), Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982), Zelig (1983), Broadway Danny Rose (1984), Alice (1990), Shadows and Fog (1992), Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Celebrity (1998), and Sweet and Lowdown (1999), Small Time Crooks (2000), The Curse of The Jade Scorpion (2001), Hollywood Ending (2002), and Match Point (2005).