Paul Thomas Anderson

Hailed by many as the new Robert Altman, Paul Thomas Anderson is an American writer/director who has offered the movie-going world some of the most edgy, exciting, and innovative work completed in the past fifteen years.

Paul Thomas Anderson was born June 26, 1970 in Studio City, California. With entertainment in his blood, Anderson’s father, Ernie Anderson, was a minor celebrity in Cleveland, known as the voice of ABC. Anderson was raised in San Fernando Valley, which would later become a common setting for his films.

Anderson pursued his secondary education at Emerson College, but feeling the school wasn’t a good fit, he transferred to New York University. In order to gauge NYU’s quality, Anderson submitted a sample of David Mamet’s work as his own. When he received a “C,” he dropped out of film school. He lasted two days and never earned his degree.

Displaying interest and talent in the film industry from an early age, Anderson completed the mock-umentary short Dirk Diggler Story in 1988. Although the film showed obvious hallmarks of an immature filmmaker, the plot was eventually transformed into his seminal work Boogie Nights (1997).

But before Anderson ever stepped behind a camera professionally, he first served as a production assistant. Learning the trade and earning valuable experience, Anderson’s first work was the short Cigarettes & Coffee (1993) with Miguel Ferrer and Philip Baker Hall. Bolstered by his positive reception at the Sundance Film Festival, his following work debuted three years later.

Despite Anderson’s lack of overt experience and credentials, Sydney (sometimes billed as Hard Eight) secured an all-star cast including Baker Hall, John C Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L Jackson, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Despite the success of Sydney, Anderson did not explode onto the scene until Boogie Nights. Prone to working with the same group of actors (much like Altman, to whom Anderson’s work is often compared) Baker Hall, Reilly, and Hoffman returned for Boogie Nights. Newcomers included Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Heather Graham, Don Cheadle, Luis Guzman, William H Macy, and Alfred Molina. The critical acclaim was staggering (Anderson earned his first Oscar nomination), and the commercial reception was equally as promising.

After Anderson shocked the film world with his graphic, vivid, and sharp depiction of the porn industry, his name began to accrue considerable buzz. People waited in anticipation of his next work, and it did not disappoint. Magnolia was released in 1999, and it garnered three Oscar nominations including a second nod to Anderson for Best Writing. In addition to many of his regulars, Tom Cruise turned in a tour-de-force Oscar nominated performance.

The world had to wait until 2002 to see what Anderson would come up with next. The result was the Adam Sandler and Emily Watson romantic drama Punch-Drunk Love. Its reception was not overwhelmingly positive as with his previous work, but Sandler surprised film audiences, emerging as a serious and nuanced actor.

In 2007, Anderson completed filming the adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil! entitled There Will Be Blood. Starring Daniel Day Lewis, it is his first major work not to feature any of his regular cast of actors.

Anderson also served as director for many of Fiona Apple’s music videos, whom he was linked to romantically for several years. He is currently involved with Saturday Night Live regular Maya Rudolph. They welcomed the birth of their daughter on October 15, 2005.