Julie Taymor is a renowned Academy Award-nominated director, recognized for her captivating films such as Frida (2002) and Across the Universe (2007).
Born on December 15, 1952, in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, Taymor was raised by her father, Melvin Lester Taymor, a gynecologist, and her mother, Elizabeth Bernstein, a teacher of political science.
Young Taymor developed a passion for international folklore and mythology, and spent her formative years living in several countries. She lived in Sri Lanka and India with the Experiment in International Living program during the 1960s, and then studied acting in Paris at the mime school of Jacques Lecoq.
Taymor pursued her education in theatre and mythology at Oberlin College, graduating in 1974 with a degree in folklore and mythology. During the 1970s, she lived in Japan, studying the art of puppetry and Japanese theatre, and later spent five years in Indonesia, working as a director of international theatre.
Back in the USA, Taymor achieved her first success with staging a fairy tale, "The King Stag", and then toured 66 cities across the world. In the 1990s, she directed several classic operas, including Igor Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex" in Japan, which earned her an Emmy Award.
Taymor continued her stellar theatrical career in New York, directing productions such as William Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" and "Juan Darién: A Carnival Mass" at the Lincoln Center. In 1997, she directed a massive production of "The Lion King" on Broadway, for which she also co-designed over a 100 costumes and masks of animals, and earned two Tony Awards.
Her film, Frida (2002),received six Oscar nominations, and two Oscars, for make-up and for the music score by Elliot Goldenthal. Taymor continued her success with the 2004 production of "The Magic Flute" at the Metropolitan Opera, and the 2006 staging of "Grendel" at the Los Angeles Opera.
Taymor's latest film, Across the Universe (2007),is a musical set in the 1960s England, Vietnam, and America, where a love story and social protest are intertwined with over thirty songs by The Beatles.
