BIOGRAPHY / PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON

Paul was born on June 26, 1970 in Studio City, California and grew up in the San Fernando Valley. His father, Ernie Anderson, was a well known voice actor (America's Funniest Home Videos, The Love Boat, etc.) & created the character Ghoulardi (which Paul used as his production company name for years) who was a B movie/horror film host in the early 60's & had a huge cult following in the Cleveland area.

Very little is known about his early years, but it's been documented that school never appealed to Paul & he had to leave the Buckley school in sixth grade because of fighting & bad grades. After Montclair College Prep high school, he spent two semesters as an english major at Emerson before dropping out. He later enrolled at New York University film school but only attended for two days. He always wanted to be a filmmaker & watching movies was the only education he needed.

Paul developed a passion for filmmaking at an early age & began his career as a production assistant on various television movies (Sworn to Vengeance), videos & game shows (The Quiz Kids Challenge) in Los Angeles & New York.

After working in a similar capacity for several small independent films, Anderson wrote the script and shot a short film entitled Cigarettes and Coffee with a borrowed a camera. Cigarettes & Coffee premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival in the shorts program II. From that short, he was able to develop a feature at the Sundance Institute's filmmaker’s workshop. 

The result was Hard Eight, starring Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman & Samuel L. Jackson which was screened at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival & the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. The film was acclaimed for its complex performances & fascinating human psychology. Film Comment declared Paul Thomas Anderson the "most promising director of 1997."

Anderson's second film, Boogie Nights, fulfilled that promise, garnering critical acclaim & three academy award nominations. Starring a cast including Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Heather Graham, John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle, Philip Baker Hall & Philip Seymour Hoffman, the film followed an extended family of filmmakers struggling to revolutionize the adult entertainment industry. The film also received the Boston Society of film critics award for "best new filmmaker" & Anderson garnered the Pen Center USA West literary award for "best screenplay."

Using the success of Boogie Nights, Paul returned in the winter of 1999 with Magnolia, a film & plot shrouded in secrecy. The film included most of the cast of Boogie Nights with one major addition: Tom Cruise. The film received tremendous critical praise placing it at the top of many critic's 10 best lists & was awarded the prestigious Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. It also received three Academy Award nominations for "best original screenplay," "best supporting actor" (Tom Cruise) & "best original song" (Aimee Mann's "Save Me").

After nearly three years, Paul's fourth film, Punch-Drunk Love debuted at the Cannes Film Festival where he was awarded "Best Director." The film stars Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mary Lynn Rajskub & Luis Guzmán. Released in the US on October 11th, 2002 to wide-spread critical acclaim for both Anderson & star Adam Sandler.

Paul spent the summer of 2005 ghost directing/executive producing the final Robert Altman film, 'Prairie Home Companion' which opened the 2006 SXSW film festival. It was also announced that Paul and partner Maya Rudolph had given birth to their first child Pearl Bailey Anderson.

In early 2006, news of Paul's next film 'There Will Be Blood' broke in all the trade magazines and websites. The film shot in Texas and New Mexico in May 2006 and wrapped Thursday, August 25th. Paul's script used aspects of Upton Sinclair's expose of the steamy side of the drilling business in Southern California when it became the equivalent of the gold rush.

Daniel Day-Lewis won the academy award for Best Actor playing Daniel Plainview, a prospector who buys the oil rights to a family's ranch, and then hits a major pocket of crude. Robert Elswit won Best Cinematography and Paul was also nominated for Adapted Screenplay and Best Director.