Sir Colin Nigel Callender was born on May 1952 and is a British television, film and theater producer.
21 Facts About Colin Callender
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Colin Callender was responsible for HBO's unprecedented commercial and critical success, setting new benchmarks for quality film and television production.
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Colin Callender was born to an Orthodox Jewish family in London, the son of Lydia and Martin Colin Callender.
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Colin Callender has a brother, Neeman, and a sister, Claire.
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Colin Callender holds a BA with Honours in Philosophy and Politics from the University of East Anglia.
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Colin Callender started in the entertainment industry as a member of Britain's National Youth Theatre and began his production career in 1974 at the Royal Court Theatre in London as stage manager working with directors such as Mike Leigh, David Hare and Sam Shepard.
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In 1978 Colin Callender co-founded Primetime Television where he quickly established himself as one of the UK's leading television and film producers.
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Colin Callender produced Mr Halpern And Mr Johnson starring Laurence Olivier and Jackie Gleeson; Peter Greenway's The Belly of an Architect, which was the official British entry to the 1987 Cannes Film Festival; John Schlesinger's Madame Sousatzka starring Shirley MacLaine; The Bretts a 13-hour mini-series for Masterpiece Theatre, Prisoner of Honour starring Richard Dreyfuss.
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Colin Callender was in the forefront of bringing together talent from the UK and the US, which has gone on to become one of the hallmarks of his career.
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In 1986, Colin Callender moved to the US to become Executive Producer of HBO's newly formed East Coast production unit HBO Showcase.
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Colin Callender was responsible for HBO's theatrical films such as the breakout indie hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Gus Van Sant's provocative movie Elephant, about a Columbine-like, high-school shooting, which won Best Director Award as well as the coveted Palm d'Or at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.
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In 2009, Colin Callender left HBO Films and moved to New York to produce theatre.
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In 2014, Colin Callender produced Harvey Fierstein's Casa Valentina, which was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Play, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch starring Neil Patrick Harris, which won four Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical.
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Colin Callender produced the production of Kenneth Branagh's New York stage debut in Macbeth at the Park Avenue Armory, and was a co-producer of Jez Butterworth's The River starring Hugh Jackman.
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Alongside Sonia Friedman Productions and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions, Colin Callender is one of the producers of the two-part stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, an expansion of the Harry Potter franchise, which opened on 30 July 2016 in London's Palace Theatre.
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In 2017, Colin Callender produced Academy Award winner Kenneth Lonergan's adaptation of Howards End for the BBC and Starz, Heidi Thomas's adaptation of Little Women for the BBC and Masterpiece, and Richard Eyre's adaptation of King Lear starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson for the BBC and Amazon Prime Video.
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Colin Callender produced Lucy Kirkwood's adaptation of her play Chimerica for Channel 4, and The Spanish Princess, a sequel to The White Queen and The White Princess, for Starz.
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Colin Callender currently produces the hit adaptation of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small for Channel 5 and Masterpiece on PBS, Peter Kosminsky's The Undeclared War starring Simon Pegg, Hannah Khalique-Brown, Adrian Lester and Mark Rylance for Channel 4 and Peacock, and a reimagining of the classic novel Dangerous Liaisons for Starz.
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Colin Callender is married to attorney Elizabeth Gaine with whom he has two daughters, Caroline and Charlotte.
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Colin Callender was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2003 Birthday Honours for services to the UK film and television industries in the USA and was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to the British creative industries.
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Colin Callender is a trustee and supporter of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, the New York Public Theater and The Creative Coalition.