Julie Taymor Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Julie Taymor
Taymor, 2022 Tokyo International Film Festival
Born	(1952-12-15) December 15, 1952 (age 72) Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq Oberlin College (BA)
Occupation	Film and stage director, screenwriter
Partner(s)	Elliot Goldenthal (1980–present)
Relatives	Danya Taymor (niece)

Julie Taymor (born December 15, 1952) is an American director and writer. She is famous for creating amazing shows for the stage, like plays and operas, and also for directing movies. Her most well-known work is the stage version of The Lion King, which opened in 1997. She won two Tony Awards for The Lion King – one for directing and one for costume design.

Julie Taymor also directed the 2002 movie Frida, which was about the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. This film was nominated for five Academy Awards. She also directed Across the Universe in 2007, a musical movie that used songs by the Beatles.

Early Life and Inspiration
Career Highlights
Awards and Recognition
See also

Early Life and Inspiration

Julie Taymor was born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1952. Her mom was a political science professor, and her dad was a doctor who studied fertility. Julie became interested in theatre very early. By the time she was ten, she was already part of the Boston Children's Theatre and acted in many plays.

When she was 15, her parents sent her to Sri Lanka and India. These trips helped her see different cultures. After high school, she went to Paris to study at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. There, she learned about mime and started working with masks for the first time. She also watched many films by famous directors like Fellini and Kurosawa.

In 1970, Julie went to Oberlin College in Ohio. During her studies, she learned about Indonesian topeng masked dance-drama and wayang kulit shadow puppetry. These art forms had a big impact on her future work. After graduating in 1974, she received a special fellowship that allowed her to travel to Japan and Indonesia. In Indonesia, she started her own mask and dance company called Teatr Loh. This company included actors, musicians, dancers, and puppeteers from different countries. They performed their original shows throughout Indonesia and later in the United States.

Career Highlights

Theatre Work

When Julie Taymor returned to New York, she continued to create unique theatre shows. She is known for her special visual style, which often uses many puppets and masks. This style was greatly influenced by her time in Indonesia.

Her most famous theatre production is The Lion King, which started on Broadway in 1997. This show has earned more money than any other entertainment show in history! It has been performed in over 100 cities in more than 20 countries, and over 100 million people worldwide have seen it.

Julie Taymor made history by being the first woman to win a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for The Lion King. She also won a Tony Award for her amazing costume designs for the show. She helped design the masks and puppets and wrote some extra lyrics for the songs.

In 2010, Julie Taymor directed a musical based on Spider-Man called Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. This show faced many challenges, including injuries to actors and delays. It became the most expensive Broadway production ever. After some changes, the show officially opened in 2011. Julie Taymor later reached a settlement with the show's producers regarding her creative contributions.

In 2015, Julie Taymor was honored for her lifetime achievements and was added to the American Theater Hall of Fame. She also directed a Broadway revival of M. Butterfly in 2017.

Film Work

Julie Taymor's first film was Fool's Fire in 1992, which used puppets and masks, similar to her stage work. She also directed a film version of the opera Oedipus rex, which won an Emmy Award.

Her first major movie was Titus (1999), based on a play by William Shakespeare. She wrote the screenplay and produced the film, which was nominated for an Academy Award for costume design.

Julie Taymor received great praise for directing Frida (2002), a movie about the artist Frida Kahlo. The film starred Salma Hayek and was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two. It also received many other awards and nominations.

Her next film was Across the Universe (2007). This was a jukebox musical, meaning it used existing popular songs – in this case, 33 songs by the Beatles. The movie tells a love story set in the 1960s and featured performances by famous singers like Bono and Joe Cocker.

In 2010, Julie Taymor directed a film version of Shakespeare's The Tempest, starring Helen Mirren. She also directed a cinematic version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2014, filmed during her successful stage production.

Her most recent film, The Glorias, was released in 2020. It is a movie about the famous feminist Gloria Steinem, based on her book.

Opera Direction

Julie Taymor has also directed many operas. Her first opera direction was Oedipus rex in Japan in 1992. She later directed The Flying Dutchman and Salome.

One of her most popular opera productions is The Magic Flute by Mozart. She first directed it in Italy in 1993. Over ten years later, she brought The Magic Flute to the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2004, where it is still performed today. A shorter, English version of this opera was even shown in movie theaters, making opera more accessible to many people.

In 2006, she directed the opera Grendel, which was based on the story of Beowulf. This opera was even a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Awards and Recognition

Julie Taymor has received many important awards throughout her career. In 1991, she won the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, sometimes called a "genius grant." She has also received two Obie Awards for her off-Broadway theatre work.

In 2017, she was given a Disney Legend award for her amazing work in theatre, especially for The Lion King. Her work has been displayed in museums, and costumes from The Lion King are part of the collections at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.