Philip Ridley was born in the East End of London, England, where he still lives and works. He studied painting at St. Martin’s School of Art and his work has been exhibited throughout Europe and Japan. He started as both a performance artist and the creator of a long sequence of dark and disturbing charcoal drawings called The Epic of Oracle Foster. One drawing from this sequence, "The Black Bird", portraying a man ejaculating a black bird, was exhibited at the ICA in London while Ridley was still a student and - with calls for it to be displayed behind a curtain - became quite a cause célèbre. Ridley also started his own theatre group as a student, acting in many of the productions, and made several short 'art' films, including Visiting Mr Beak which starred the veteran actor Guy Rolfe. Despite the vast range of his talents - he was once referred to as 'a one man cultural revolution' - Ridley has always described himself as a storyteller.
Ridley has written three books for adults, Crocodilia, In the Eyes of Mr. Fury, and Flamingoes in Orbit; the highly acclaimed screenplay for The Krays feature film; five adult stage plays: The Pitchfork Disney, the multi-award-winning The Fastest Clock in the Universe, Ghost from a Perfect Place, Vincent River, the controversial trilogy Mercury Fur, Leaves of Glass and Piranha Heights: plus a further five plays for young people: Karamazoo, Fairytaleheart, Moonfleece, Sparkleshark and Brokenville.
He has also directed two feature films from his own screenplays: The Reflecting Skin – winner of 11 international awards – and The Passion of Darkly Noon (winner of the Best Director Prize at the Porto Film Festival) and one short film, The Universe of Dermot Finn. Release of these films are extremely difficult to find. He has also written many books for children including Scribbleboy (shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal), Kasper in the Glitter (nominated for the Whitbread Prize), Mighty Fizz Chilla (shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award), ZinderZunder, Vinegar Street, and Krindlekrax (winner of both the Smarties Prize and WH Smith’s Mind-Boggling Books Award), the stage play of which – adapted by Ridley himself – was premièred at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in the summer of 2002. His most recent children's novel is Zip's Apollo, published in 2005.
He is also a photographer — he did his own cover image for his collected first three stage plays, 'RIDLEY: PLAYS ONE', published by Faber and Faber — and a poet (his work has appeared in several collections). He co-wrote, with Nick Bicat, two songs that appeared in his film The Passion of Darkly Noon, ('Who Will Love Me Now?', sung by P.J. Harvey - later covered by Sunscream - and "Look What You've Done" sung by Gavin Friday). Ridley has won both the Evening Standard's Most Promising Newcomer to British Film and Most Promising Playwright Awards. He is the only person ever to receive both prizes.
Thirteen years after The Passion Of Darkly Noon, Ridley is currently in post-production on his third film as writer-director, Heartless. The film stars Jim Sturgess, Clemence Poesy, Noel Clarke, Eddie Marsan and Timothy Spall, and is due for release in early-2009.
