Julie Taymor

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Julie Taymor (born December 15, 1953) is a critically acclaimed American director on Broadway and in film: she is known for her visual flair and brilliantly colorful costuming choices.

Born in Newton, Massachusetts, United States, Taymor was quick to take on theatre. At the age of seven, she was already pulling her sister into stagings of children's stories for her parents. By the age of nine she got involved in the Boston Children's Theatre, further entrancing her. In high school she became interested in international travel, and made trips to both Sri Lanka and India with the Experiment in International Living. Being the youngest member of theatre groups became common, as she joined Julie Portman's Theatre Workshop of Boston at the age of 15. Yearning for a more in depth approach, Taymor went to Paris to study with L'Ecole de Mime Jacques Lecoq. This developed her physical sensibility with exposure to mime.

Although in 1970 Taymor enrolled in Oberlin College in Ohio, she sought experience with Joseph Chaikin's Open Theatre and other companies and chose to study through correspondence. Hearing that director Herbert Blau would be moving to Ohio, she came back and auditioned, becoming yet again the youngest member of the troupe. In 1973 Taymor attended a summer program of the American Society for Eastern Arts in Seattle. The instructors were performers of Indonesian topeng masked dance-drama and wayang kulit shadow puppetry. This no doubt had great effect on Julie later on. She graduated Oberlin College with a major in mythology and folklore in 1974.

She went on to study pre-Bunraku puppetry on Awaji, Japan after college in order to learn more about experimental theatre, puppetry, and visually oriented theatre.

Her greatest acclaim as a director for the stage has come from the wildly popular musical The Lion King, a 1997 adaptation of the Disney film of that name. Taymor received two Tony Awards for her work on The Lion King, one for Direction and one for Costume Design, making her the first woman to receive a Tony award for directing a musical.

Taymor has transitioned from the stage to the movie set in recent years, directing Titus in 1999 (an adaptation of the play Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare) and Frida in 2002 (a movie based on the life of artist Frida Kahlo). Both movies received positive reviews for their stylish filming: Frida was the more acclaimed of the two, garnering six Academy Award nominations and winning in two of the six categories (Best Makeup and Best Original Score).

As of February 2006, she has completed production of her latest movie, a musical set in the 1960s entitled Across The Universe, starring Bono and Evan Rachel Wood. The premiere date is scheduled for early 2007.

She directed the opera Grendel that will be shown in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. beginning on June 1, 2006 [1]and will continue in the summer of 2006 at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York City.