37 Facts About Julie Taymor

Julie Taymor was born on December 15,1952 and is an American director and writer of theater, opera, and film.

Julie Taymor directed the jukebox movie musical Across the Universe, based on the music of The Beatles.

In 1970 Julie Taymor was enrolled in Oberlin College in Ohio.

In 1973, Julie Taymor attended a summer program of the American Society for Eastern Arts in Seattle.

Julie Taymor graduated from Oberlin College with a major in mythology and folklore and with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1974.

Julie Taymor spent a summer with Bread and Puppet Theater.

Julie Taymor toured throughout Indonesia with two original productions, Way of Snow and Tirai, which were subsequently performed in the United States.

Julie Taymor met her long-time collaborator, Elliot Goldenthal, in 1980.

Julie Taymor was the 2010 commencement speaker for her alma mater, Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio.

Back in New York from Indonesia, Julie Taymor remounted Tirai at La MaMa in 1980.

In 1984, Julie Taymor worked in collaboration with Theatre for a New Audience on a 60-minute version of A Midsummer Night's Dream presented at The Public Theater.

Julie Taymor went on to direct three other productions at that theatre, including The Taming of the Shrew, Titus Andronicus and The Green Bird by Carlo Gozzi.

Julie Taymor later adapted Tempest and Titus into major motion pictures.

Julie Taymor is known for a distinct visual style, with extensive use of puppets and masks, developed largely from her time in Indonesia working with Teatr Loh.

Julie Taymor is most widely recognized for her production of The Lion King, which opened on Broadway in 1997.

Julie Taymor has the distinction of being the first woman to receive the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical, which she won for The Lion King.

Julie Taymor received a Tony Award for her original costume designs for the production.

Julie Taymor co-designed the masks and puppets, and wrote additional lyrics for the show.

In 2000, Julie Taymor directed Carlo Gozzi's The Green Bird on Broadway.

Julie Taymor was selected to direct the show and write the book with Glen Berger.

The play was delayed for several months due to numerous injuries, and Julie Taymor was fired and replaced by Philip William McKinley.

In November 2011, Taymor sued the show's producers, Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J Harris, claiming that they were profiting from her creative contributions without compensating her.

Julie Taymor was a 2015 inductee into the American Theater Hall of Fame for Lifetime Achievement.

Julie Taymor directed a film adaptation of opera Oedipus rex after directing a stage production of the same opera.

Julie Taymor's feature film debut, Titus, starring Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, was an adaptation of Shakespeare's play Titus Andronicus.

Julie Taymor adapted the screenplay and produced the film, which received an Academy Award nomination for costume design.

Julie Taymor received critical acclaim for her direction of Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina in Frida, the true story of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

Julie Taymor both directed and co-wrote the story for the film.

In November 2008, Julie Taymor directed a film version of Shakespeare's The Tempest, released in December 2010 starring Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina, Djimon Hounsou and Ben Whishaw.

Julie Taymor produced the feature and adapted the screenplay based on Shakespeare's play.

Julie Taymor completed a cinematic version of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, starring David Harewood, Max Casella and Kathryn Hunter, and filmed during her critically acclaimed, sold-out stage production that ran at Theatre for a New Audience's new home in Downtown Brooklyn.

Julie Taymor directed and co-wrote The Glorias, a biopic of feminist icon Gloria Steinem, based on her novel My Life on the Road, starring Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Bette Midler, and Janelle Monae.

Julie Taymor went on to direct the film adaptation of the opera Oedipus Rex.

Julie Taymor went on to direct Wagner's The Flying Dutchman for the Los Angeles Opera in a co-production with the Houston Grand Opera.

Julie Taymor directed Richard Strauss' Salome for the Kirov Opera in Russia, Germany, and Israel, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Over a decade later, Julie Taymor premiered The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera in 2004.

In June 2006, Julie Taymor directed the premiere of Elliot Goldenthal's opera Grendel for the Los Angeles Opera, starring Eric Owens, which was presented as part of the Summer 2006 Lincoln Center Festival in New York City.