Paul Thomas Anderson

Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) is an American screenwriter and director whose character-driven films, set mostly in the American West, are recognized for their ambitious and engaging storytelling.

Anderson briefly attended film school at New York University but dropped out to pursue a screenwriting and directing career. He began his career as a writer-director with two short films: the mockumentary The Dirk Diggler Story (1988) and Cigarettes & Coffee (1993). His first feature film, Hard Eight (1996), a modern film noir, followed. It included performances by Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, and Philip Seymour Hoffman—all gifted character actors who would be recurring presences in Anderson’s films. Although Hard Eight was critically praised, Anderson’s breakout effort was Boogie Nights (1997). Starring Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, and Mark Wahlberg—as well as benefitting from scene-stealing performances by Hall, Reilly, and Hoffman—Boogie Nights traces the rise, fall, and resurgence of an adult film star. The story earned Anderson his first Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay.

(Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.)

At just over three hours, the length of his next film, Magnolia (1999), put off some viewers, but its interwoven stories—set during one day in southern California’s San Fernando Valley—found critical acclaim. Magnolia earned Anderson his second Oscar nomination for best original screenplay, and his adept handling of the film’s diverse cast of characters evoked the work of Robert Altman. A stint directing an installment of television’s Saturday Night Live introduced Anderson to cast member Adam Sandler, who starred in Punch-Drunk Love (2002), an offbeat love story that earned Anderson the best director award at the Cannes film festival.

Anderson’s There Will Be Blood (2007), based on the novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair, drew comparisons to such classic films as Citizen Kane and Giant upon its release. The tale of unchecked ambition and its ultimate cost starred Daniel Day-Lewis in an Academy Award-winning performance as an oil prospector-cum-tycoon and earned Anderson nominations for best adapted screenplay and best director; the movie was also nominated for best picture. Anderson brought a similar sense of grandeur to The Master (2012), which was partially inspired by the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The film depicts the complex relationship between a charismatic guru (played by Hoffman) and one of his disciples (Joaquin Phoenix) in the years after World War II.

Anderson then helmed Inherent Vice (2014), an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s darkly comic crime noir (2009). He also wrote the script, which was nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay based on material previously produced or published. Anderson next wrote and directed Phantom Thread (2017), which starred Day-Lewis as a dressmaker whose pursuit of perfection begets tension in his romantic relationships. Anderson earned an Oscar nod for his direction, and the film was nominated for best picture. He was also praised for Licorice Pizza (2021), a 1970s coming-of-age dramedy about a high-school student who befriends a free-spirited 20-something; it featured Philip Seymour Hoffman’s son, Cooper, and Alana Haim, a member of the rock band HAIM. The movie received an Oscar nod for best picture, and Anderson was nominated for his direction and original screenplay. Throughout his career Anderson also directed music videos for various musicians and groups, including Fiona Apple, Radiohead, and HAIM.