Mike Leigh (born February 20, 1943) is an English screenwriter, producer, director and former actor with a film, theatre, and television career spanning more than 60 years. His accolades include prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Venice International Film Festival, three BAFTA Awards, and seven Academy Award nominations. He also received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2014, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 Birthday Honours for services to the film industry. He made his directorial debut on Bleak Moments (1971), with Anne Raitt, Sarah Stephenson, Eric Allan, Joolia Cappleman, Mike Bradwell, Donald Sumpter, and Liz Smith.
TV movies include Hard Labour (1973), with Smith, Bernard Hill, Alison Steadman (whom he was married to from 1973 to 2001), and Ben Kingsley; Meantime (1983), with Marion Bailey, Phil Daniels, Tim Roth, Pam Ferris, Alfred Molina, and Gary Oldman; and Four Days in July (1984), with Brid Brennan, Stephen Rea, Paula Hamilton, Charles Lawson, and Eileen Pollock.
Other early feature films include High Hopes (1988), with Philip Davis, Ruth Sheen, Edna Dore, Philip Jackson, Heather Tobias, Lesley Manville, and David Bamber; Life Is Sweet (1990), with Steadman, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall, Claire Skinner, Jane Horrocks, David Thewlis, Moya Brady, and Rea; and Naked (1993), with Thewlis, Katrin Cartlidge, and Lesley Sharp.
He received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Secrets & Lies (1996), with Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Claire Rushbrook, Ron Cook, Lesley Manville, Elizabeth Berrington, Michele Austin, Lee Ross, Emma Amos, and Hannah Davis; and Vera Drake (2004), with Imelda Staunton, Phil Davis, Daniel Mays, and Eddie Marsan.
He received additional Best Original Screenplay nominations for Topsy-Turvy (1999), with Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Spall, Lesley Manville, Ron Cook, Eleanor Davis, Dexter Fletcher, Shirley Henderson, Kevin McKidd, and Andy Serkis; Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), with Sally Hawkins, Marsan, Alexis Zegerman, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Stanley Townsend, Kate O’Flynn, Caroline Martin, Oliver Maltman, Sarah Niles, Samuel Roukin, Karina Fernandez, and Nonso Anozie; and Another Year (2010), with Broadbent, Manville, Sheen, Peter Wright, and David Bradley.
Other films include Career Girls (1997), with Katrin Cartlidge, Lynda Steadman, Mark Benton, Kate Byers, Serkis, and Joe Tucker; All or Nothing (2002), with Spall, Manville, James Corden, Sheen, Bailey, Paul Jessen, Sam Kelly, Kathryn Hunter, and Hawkins; Mr. Turner (2014), with Spall, Dorothy Atkinson, Paul Jesson, Bailey, Manville, and Martin Savage; Peterloo (2018), with Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, and Pearce Quigley; and Hard Truths (2024), with Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett, Ani Nelson, Sophia Brown, and Jonathan Livingstone.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Bleak Moments (1971)
- Hard Labour (1973) – TV movie – episode of Play for Today
- Nuts in May (1976) – TV movie – episode of Play for Today
- The Kiss of Death (1977) – TV movie – episode of Play for Today
- Abigail’s Party (1977) – TV movie – episode of Play for Today
- Who’s Who (1979) – TV movie – episode of Play for Today
- Grown-Ups (1980) – TV movie – episode of BBC2 Playhouse
- Home Sweet Home (1982) – TV movie – episode of Play for Today
- Meantime (1983) – TV movie
- Four Days in July (1984) – TV movie
- The Short & Curlies (1987) – TV short
- High Hopes (1988)
- Life Is Sweet (1990)
- 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)
- A Running Jump (2012) – short
- Mr. Turner (2014)
- Peterloo (2018)
- Hard Truths (2024)
- Untitled Project (2026)
I Review Stuff 