Mini biography

Andrea Arnold _{(April 5, 1961, Dartford, Kent, England)}

Andrea Patricia Arnold OBE (born 5 April 1961) is an English filmmaker and former actor.

She won an Academy Award for her short film Wasp in 2005. Her feature films include Red Road (2006), Fish Tank (2009), and American Honey (2016), all of which have won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Arnold has also directed four episodes of the Amazon Prime Video series Transparent, as well as all seven episodes of the second season of the HBO series Big Little Lies. Her documentary Cow premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and played at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival.

“Dramatically, I like darkness, I like conflict - but I don't see the world as defined by them. And why would I pretend to? That's not who I am.”

Throughout all of her films, Arnold is known for giving her actors almost total control in creating their characters. Her directorial style provides support and reassurance to her actors in an effort to create their most pure reflections of themselves. Sasha Lane, star of American Honey, describes that "She constantly told me to be who I was. There wasn't really any teaching. More like, 'Sasha, you're fine.'"

In general, Arnold's films are characterized by the themes of deprivation and impoverishment. For example, both Fish Tank and Wuthering Heights are dramas featuring teenagers living in the poverty-stricken English edge-lands.

Director - Selected filmography

1. Bird (2024)