Sam Taylor-Johnson
Birthdate – March 4, 1967 (57 Years Old)
Birthplace – London, England, UK
Sam Taylor-Johnson (birthname: Samantha Louise Taylor-Johnson) began her career in the arts as a fine art photographer, and gradually transitioned to filmmaking—first, with award-winning short films and then with her feature directorial debut, Nowhere Boy (2009), based on Julia Baird’s memoir of her brother John Lennon and starring Aaron Johnson, Anne-Marie Duff, Kristin Scott Thomas, and David Morrissey, premiering at the London Film Festival and then was released in the U.S. by The Weinstein Company.
Taylor-Johnson directed her second feature, the hotly anticipated though critically dismissed Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), co-starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, with Jennifer Elle and Marcia Gay Harden, and earning a smashing $569.7 million for Universal Pictures/Focus Features against $40 million costs following a premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Taylor-Johnson was co-writer/co-producer (with star and husband Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and director of the semi-fictional A Million Little Pieces (2018), based on James Frey’s memoir, with Billy Bob Thornton, Odessa Young, Giovanni Ribisi, Juliette Lewis, and Charlie Hunnam, and released by Momentum Pictures and Entertainment One after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival.
Taylor-Johnson was director of the much-anticipated biopic on the late pop singer Amy Winehouse, Back to Black (2024), starring Marisa Abela (as Winehouse), Jack O’Connell, Eddie Marjan, and Lesley Manville, with Focus Features and StudioCanal handling distribution.
Personal Details
Sam Taylor-Johnson was born and raised in her early years in London by parents David and Geraldine Taylor (yoga teacher and astrologist). Taylor-Johnson was nine years old when her parents divorced, and when her family moved to East Sussex. Taylor-Johnson has a sister, director-writer-photographer Kristian Taylor-Wood.
Taylor-Johnson attended and graduated from Beacon Community College, and then attended and graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London. Taylor-Johnson was married to art dealer and gallery Jay Jopling from 1997 to 2008 when they divorced; the couple has two daughters. Taylor-Johnson married actor Aaron Johnson in 2012 when both took the joint name Taylor-Johnson; the couple has two daughters.
Filmography
Fifty Shades of Grey
Director (2015)
Back to Black
(2024)
Some Facts About Sam Taylor-Johnson
Cancer Survivor: Sam Taylor-Johnson has survived cancer twice—first, in 1997, diagnosed with colon cancer, and then in 2000, diagnosed with breast cancer.
Honors: Taylor-Johnson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2011 honoring her services to the arts.
Recordings: Sam Taylor-Johnson has collaborated with Pet Shop Boys on three songs: “Je t’aime…moi non plus” (1999), “Love to Love You Baby” (2003), and “I’m in Love with a German Film Star” (2008).
Awards
Three-time Nominee, Best British Film/Best Debut by Writer, Director or Producer/Best Short Film, BAFTA Awards (2009, 2010); Nominee, Douglas Hickok Award, British Independent Film Awards (2009); Nominee, Best European Short Film, European Film Awards (2008); Winner, Prize of the Ministry for Development of Culture, Oberhausen Short Film Festival (1998); Winner, Short Filmmaking Award-Honorable Mention, Sundance Film Festival Awards (2009);
