Biography
Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer. He has directed numerous acclaimed films since the early 1980s, including My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), The Grifters (1990), High Fidelity (2000), The Queen (2006), Philomena (2013), Florence Foster Jenkins (2016), and Victoria & Abdul (2017). He has received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director. Frears is also known for his work on various television programs, includin...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Alec Guinness: A Class Act
2024
as self
The story of one of Britain's most celebrated actors of the 20th century, told by those who knew and admired him.

A Look Through His Lens
2024
as Self
Oscar-winning cinematographer Philippe Rousselot offers a master class in image making, with insightful examples from his work on Diva, Hope and Glory...

The Rise of the Comic Strip
2023
as Self
Documentary about the beginnings and the Channel 4 years of the Comic Strip.

Hans Zimmer: Hollywood Rebel
2022
as Self
An in-depth look of the 40 year journey, from post-war Germany to Hollywood royalty, of Hans Zimmer, the man who’s become the dominant force in the wo...

The Lost King
2022
Director
An amateur historian defies the academic establishment in her efforts to find King Richard III's remains, which were lost for over 500 years.

Short Cuts: Dangerous Liaisons
2021
Original Film Writer

In The Tracks Of - Alexandre Desplat
2020
as Self
Alexandre Desplat is one of the most famous film music composer of today. Innovative artist with a singular expression, he is the successor of french ...
Revisiting The Man in the White Suit
2019
Director Stephen Frears, film historian Ian Christie, and author and British film historian Richard Dacre discuss the unique qualities of The Man in t...

Memories of Lindsay Anderson
2019
as Self
Chris Wade's documentary film is a personal, intimate and affectionate look at the life and work of Lindsay Anderson, the legendary film and theatre d...

Who Killed British Cinema?
2018
as Self
A feature length documentary about the real state of the British film industry in relation to UK structures past, present and currently for the future...

Seduction. Betrayal. Murder: The Making of The Grifters
2018
A brand new feature-length documentary on the film’s production, including new interviews with director Stephen Frears, director of photography Oliver...

Victoria & Abdul
2017
Director
Queen Victoria strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk named Abdul Karim.
Il était une fois... « The Queen »
2017
as Self
Released in 2006, British filmmaker Stephen Frears' "The Queen" dramatizes the brief but intense conflict between Prime Minister Tony Blair and Elizab...

She's French
2017
She's chic, slim and sexy like Brigitte Bardot. She's French. But she's not all French women, right?

Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light
2016
as Self
A multi-part documentary about Alan Clarke, featuring interviews with various actors, writers and producers.

Florence Foster Jenkins
2016
Director, Writer
The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.

The Program
2015
Director
An Irish sports journalist becomes convinced that Lance Armstrong's performances during the Tour de France victories are fueled by banned substances. ...

Reflecting on My Beautiful Laundrette: A Conversation between Stephen Frears and Colin MacCabe
2015
Stephen Frears in a interview with film scholar and producer Colin MacCabe. The topics which he touches upon include his career in theater and TV prio...

French Cinema Mon Amour
2015
as Self
French Cinema Mon Amour is an ensemble film in which each contributor brings their own voice, their own particular approach, their culture, and their ...

Henri Langlois vu par...
2014
as Self
Thirteen filmmakers talk about Henri Langlois and their relationship with him.

Henri Langlois vu par...
2014
Director
Thirteen filmmakers talk about Henri Langlois and their relationship with him.

Night Will Fall
2014
Producer, Executive Producer
When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, reveali...

Philomena
2013
Director
A woman searches for her adult son, who was taken away from her decades ago when she was forced to live in a convent.

Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight
2013
Director
Muhammad Ali’s historic Supreme Court battle from behind closed doors. When Ali was drafted into the Vietnam War at the height of his boxing career, h...

30 Years of Comic Strip
2012
In true Peter Richardson fashion, "30 Years Of Comic Strip" defies the conventional norms of a retrospective documentary. It brings together some of t...

Lay the Favorite
2012
Director
A former stripper's talent with numbers lands her a job with a professional gambler who runs a sports book in Las Vegas.
My Friend Sam: Living for the Moment
2012
Sam was born with an extremely rare genetic disorder called Familial Dysautonomia. When born, he had 50 per cent chance of making it to his fifth birt...

Hans Zimmer: The Sound of Hollywood
2011
as Self
Documentary about Hans Zimmer.

Tamara Drewe
2010
Director
A young newspaper writer returns to her hometown in the English countryside, where her childhood home is being prepped for sale.

Heavy Rain
2010
as Himself
A powerful short documentary inspired by the launch of the genre breaking PlayStation 3 title HEAVY RAIN. Directed by the acclaimed filmmaker Neil L...

Once Upon a Time... 'Notorious'
2009
as Self
Documentary about the making of Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 film "Notorious."

Jean Charles
2009
Executive Producer
The tragic true story of Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent Brazilian shot dead by British police in 2005 at the height of the London terrorist ale...

Great Directors
2009
as Self
Features conversations with ten of the world's greatest living directors: Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Agnes Vard...

Chéri
2009
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of l...

Chéri
2009
Director
The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of l...

Here’s Looking at You, Boy
2007
as Self
Documentary on the history of gay and lesbian film.

The Queen
2006
Director
The Queen is an intimate behind the scenes glimpse at the interaction between HM Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair during their struggle, fol...

Le court des grands
2005
Director
A program of debut shorts from some of cinema's greatest diectors. Curated by Emir Kusturica and Stephen Frears, featured auteurs include George Lucas...

Mrs. Henderson Presents
2005
Director
Eccentric 70-year-old widow purchases the Windmill Theatre in London as a post-widowhood hobby. After starting an innovative continuous variety review...

Michael Powell
2005
The first episode of a new arts documentary program from BBC Scotland was dedicated to Michael Powell in his centenary year. The program interviews ma...

Cast & Crew: If....
2004
as Self - Interviewee
Episode of the BBC Scotland television series focusing on Lindsay Anderson's 1968 film "If...", featuring interviews with star Malcolm McDowell, cinem...

The Route V50
2004
Director
As a traveler searches for a place called Confidence, he keeps running into other versions of himself.

100 Greatest Sexy Moments
2003
as Self
Documentary, based on a British poll, listing the 100 sexiest movie and TV moments. Supplemented by new interviews with performers, filmmakers, and au...

The Deal
2003
Director
It is approaching an election in the UK when the leader of the Labour party, John Smith, suffers another in a line of heart attacks and dies. With the...

Forever Ealing
2002
as Self
This is a history of the England's Ealing Film Studios, from its beginnings in 1902. It follows the studio's successes through the 1930's, World War I...

Dirty Pretty Things
2002
Director
An undocumented immigrant finds a human heart in one of the toilets of the west London hotel where he works with other undocumented immigrants.
Robert Altman in England
2002
as Himself
Robert Altman interviewed during the making of GOSFORD PARK (2001), as well as members of the cast and crew. Also, revealing behind the scenes footage...

All About Desire: The Passionate Cinema of Pedro Almodovar
2001
as Narrator
A rare look at the the career of film director Pedro Almodóvar, especially his early works, with interviews with the director himself and his stars an...

Liam
2001
Director
A morality tale of xenophobia, religious prejudice, mob violence, poverty, and their effect on two children in Liverpool during the Depression. When a...

Alan Clarke: His Own Man
2000
as Self
British film-maker Alan Clarke was championed by the likes of Gary Oldman, Tim Roth and Ray Winstone - Stephen Frears even called him the best. And ye...

Fail Safe
2000
Director
Cold War tensions climb to a fever pitch when a U.S. bomber is accidentally ordered to drop a nuclear warhead on Moscow.

High Fidelity
2000
Director
After his long-time girlfriend dumps him, a thirty-year-old record store owner seeks to understand why he is unlucky in love while recounting his "top...

The Hi-Lo Country
1998
Director
An intimate story of the enduring bond of friendship between two hard-living men, set against a sweeping backdrop: the American West, post-World War I...

Beyond Fear
1997
Executive Producer
The true story of Stephanie Slater, a British estate agent who was kidnapped, raped, and held for ransom by Michael Sams, who imprisoned her in a coff...
Howard Hawks: American Artist
1997
as Narrator
A tribute of Howard Hawks by the British Film Institute.

The Van
1996
Director
In a working-class quarter of Dublin, 'Bimbo' Reeves gets laid off from his job and, with his redundancy payout, buys a van and sells fish and chips w...

Mary Reilly
1996
Director
A housemaid falls in love with Dr. Jekyll and his darkly mysterious counterpart, Mr. Hyde.

Typically British: A Personal History of British Cinema
1995
Stephen Frears and a quartet of film industry notables - representing different cinematic periods - drink tea and discuss ups and downs of British cin...

Typically British: A Personal History of British Cinema
1995
Director
Stephen Frears and a quartet of film industry notables - representing different cinematic periods - drink tea and discuss ups and downs of British cin...

The Snapper
1993
Director
Sharon Curley is a 20-year-old living with her parents and many brothers and sisters in Dublin. When she gets pregnant and refuses to name the father,...

Hero
1992
Director
Bernie Laplante is having a rough time. He's divorced, his ex-wife hates him and has custody of their son, the cops are setting a trap for him, then t...

Director: Alan Clarke
1991
Documentary - Alan Clarke's films exposed a real, raw world as no other films have. Works such as "Scum," "Made in Britain," "The Firm," "Rita, Sue an...

The Grifters
1990
Director
A small-time conman has his loyalties torn between his estranged mother and his new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own a...

Dangerous Liaisons
1988
Director
In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for ...

Mr Jolly Lives Next Door
1988
Director
A couple of bored escorts find themselves suddenly involved with a hit gang and an ax murderer - Mr. Jolly. Gratuitous violence, rivers of blood, and ...

Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
1987
Director
Sammy and Rosie are an unconventional middle-class London married couple. They live in the midst of inner-city chaos, surround themselves with intelle...

Prick Up Your Ears
1987
Director
When the young, attractive Joe Orton meets the older, more introverted Kenneth Halliwell at drama school, he befriends the kindred spirit and they sta...
Hooray For Holyrood
1986
as Self
Scottish Television's film on the 40th Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1986, starring Robbie Coltrane (a former EIFF chauffeur) and featuring...

Song of Experience
1986
Director
As the Lady Chatterley court case puts its seal on the 1950s, three boys set out for a day's train-spotting. They see more than just trains, though, o...

Consuela (or, The New Mrs Saunders)
1986
Director of Photography, Director
Jessica, the second Mrs Saunders, arrives with her new husband John at his country estate. Very much left to her own devices she is unnerved by the po...

Shooting from the Heart: Chris Menges, Cameraman
1985
as Self
A look at the career of Oscar-winning cameraman Chris Menges. Filmed on location of 'Comfort and Joy'. Chris Menges discusses his early career in tele...

My Beautiful Laundrette
1985
Director
A Pakistani Briton renovates a rundown laundrette with his male lover while dealing with drama within his family, the local Pakistani community, and a...

December Flower
1984
Director
Newly widowed Etta visits her beloved Aunt M and discovers her bedridden and listless. Etta's struggle to restore her aunt's dignity and cheer brings ...

The Bullshitters: Roll Out the Gunbarrel
1984
Director
Janie, daughter of Commander Jackson, the head of D15, has been kidnapped and there are only two men who can save her - former agents Bonehead and Foy...

The Hit
1984
Director
Ten years after ratting on his old mobster friends in exchange for personal immunity, two hit men drive a hardened criminal to Paris for his execution...

Saigon: Year Of The Cat
1983
Director
The year is 1974, and Barbara Dean (Judi Dench), a British assistant manager in a foreign bank in Saigon, begins a relationship with American Bob Ches...

Walter and June
1983
Director
Sequel to the TV film "Walter". In the United States, the two films have been released together on DVD as a package, called "Loving Walter".

Walter
1982
Director
A man with learning difficulties suffers neglect and ill-treatment, and this is only exasperated when his parents die and nobody seems to know what to...

Going Gently
1981
Director
Play about two elderly cancer patients suffering in hospital.

Bloody Kids
1980
Director
Two boys pull a Saturday night prank on the police in a seaside British town.

Long Distance Information
1979
Director
Play For Today written by and starring Neville Smith. Christian Harvey , a local radio DJ and ageing rocker, is an obsessive fan of Elvis and the news...

One Fine Day
1979
Director, Producer
Alan Bennett's play about the mid-life crisis of an estate agent.

Afternoon Off
1979
Director, Producer
Lee, a Chinese man, works as a waiter in a hotel in England, despite speaking very little English. Told that a girl called Iris might be interested in...

Doris and Doreen
1978
Producer, Director
A series of pink forms has Doris and Doreen fearing for their cushy jobs.

Me! I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf
1978
Director
A repressed night-school teacher, secretly homosexual, struggles to cope with his demanding, eccentric mother.

Long Shot
1978
as Biscuit Man
Against the backdrop of the 1977 Edinburgh Film Festival, two low-budget filmmakers attempt to talk up some finance as they hunt for cash, cast and ‘...
Cold Harbour
1978
Director
A beautiful Chilean exile called Tina is stranded in a new country.

A Visit from Miss Prothero
1978
Director
Arthur Dodsworth has recently retired. He lives alone except for his budgie and memories of his late wife Winnie. One afternoon his nap is interrupted...

Black Christmas
1977
Director
A bittersweet drama on a familiar theme - the frictions forced to the surface during a Christmas family get-together - Michael Abbensetts' Black Chris...

Able's Will
1977
Director
Thomas Able, once a successful writer, has not written since the war. He lies paralysed and dying. His family gather at the family home.

Last Summer
1977
Director, Producer
A 1976 play concerning an unemployed school leaver becomes involved with professional car thieves. Part of the ITV Playhouse strand.

Play Things
1976
Director
A young man volunteers to work with a children's play group in a deprived London area. Adapted by Peter Prince from his own novel.

Early Struggles
1976
Director
Kevin's wife walked out and left him holding the baby – no sleep, dirty nappies, and a career in pop music at risk. And ahead lies a visit to the clin...

Three Men in a Boat
1975
Director
One hot June day, three friends decide there is nothing they would like to do more than to get away from London. A boating holiday with lots of fresh ...

Sunset Across the Bay
1975
Director
A married couple, after a life time of work and bringing up a family, retire and awaken to the fast changing world around them, the habitual nature of...

Match of the Day
1974
Director
Chance has missed the match, but the girls at his sister's wedding might make up for it

A Day Out
1972
Director
Alan Bennett's debut play for television follows the members of a Halifax cycling club, on an outing from Halifax to the ruins of Fountains Abbey. Set...

Gumshoe
1971
Director
A would be private eye gets mixed up in a smuggling case.
Incident
1971
as Man
An anti-short short. On three occassions a man overhears a car accident while relaxing in his room. He reacts with less and less concern to each crash...

The Burning
1968
Director
The Burning is Stephen Frears’ first film, a chilling exploration of racial tensions in Apartheid-era South Africa. On a sweltering summer’ day, a wea...

Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment
1966
Assistant Director
Morgan, an aggressive and self-admitted dreamer, a fantasist who uses his flights of fancy as refuge from external reality, where his unconventional b...

Wilder & Me
N/A
Director
Part coming-of-age story, part true-life portrait of the beloved Billy Wilder, the film is set during the summer of 1977, when an innocent young woman...