Elected as the new President of the Director's Guild of America. He replaces Martha Coolidge and has been a DGA member since 1978. [29 June 2003]
President of the Directors Guild of America (DGA). [2003-]
Member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Documentary Branch) [2002-]
Michael Apted Detailed Biography
Michael Apted (born February 10, 1941 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom) is a British director, producer, writer and actor.
Apted studied law and history at Cambridge University (Downing). He began his career in television, working as a researcher for Granada Television, eventually becoming a director for the station. During his time at Granada, he directed a number of episodes of Coronation Street.
For his work in television, Apted has won several British Academy Awards, including one for Best Dramatic Director.
He went to the United States in 1980, and there directed his first feature film, Coal Miner's Daughter, which got seven Academy Award nominations. In 1983 he directed the film, Gorky Park based on the novel by Martin Cruz Smith.
In addition to feature films, Apted has also directed a number of documentaries. His most famous is the Up! series, which started in 1964 with fourteen seven-year-old children. Beginning as a one-shot documentary, it has become an institution revisiting the subjects every seven years. Now in its seventh installment, the series is a dramatic look at peoples lives. The latest version, 49 up, was produced in 2005.
Apted directed the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.
On June 29, 2003 he was elected President of the Director's Guild of America.
