Stephen Woolley masters all the steps in the making of a film, from producing to releasing it. Actually, it is as an usher in a London theatre that he stepped into the film industry. He went on to buying his own cinema and then, with Nik Powell, he cofounded Palace Pictures, a company that became known for distributing foreign films in Great Britain, among them Diva, Evil Dead, Paris, Texas or Blood Simple by the Coen brothers, as well as highlighting British films directors as Mike Leigh, Ken Loach or Peter Greenaway.
He launched his career as a producer with the Company of Wolves, his first of many collaborations with Neil Jordan, others including The Crying Game (with one of the most famous twists in the history of cinema), Mona Lisa, Michael Collins, La fin d’une liaison, Interview with a vampire (starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Antonio Banderas) was nominated or awarded many times at the Oscars and in the most famous festivals around the world. Together they set up Company of Wolves, financed by Dreamworks.
As a talent scout, Stephen Woolley also revealed Michael Caton-Jones in Scandal and Richard Stanley in Hardware. In 2002 he created Number 9 Films along with his long-time partner, the producer Elizabeth Karlsen, and three years later he went behind the camera to direct Stoned about Brian Jones’s last days.
In 2010 he won the Hitchcock d’Or in the 21st edition of the British Film Festival in Dinard with Made in Dagenham.
In 2019 he was awarded a BAFTA in honour of his exceptional contribution to British cinema.
