Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold, OBE (born 5 April 1961) is an English filmmaker and former actress, who made her feature film directorial debut in 2006 with Red Road.

Personal life

Arnold was born on 5 April 1961 in Dartford, Kent,the eldest of four children. She was born when her mother was only 16 years old and her father was 17, and they separated when she was very young. Her mother had to bring up all four children alone, which is reminiscent of Arnold's own directorial debuted short, Wasp. When people are asked if the story is in any way biographical, Arnold replies "I grew up in a working class family, so I guess you could say I write from what I know."

As a young girl, she was writing dark stories about human experience. In an interview, Arnold speaks about how when she was a mere 10 years old, she wrote her first play that expressed her "horror" of the slave trade, and a few years later while studying for a dance GCSE, she made a performance piece; "I took quotes from the Diary of Anne Frank and read them aloud as I moved around the room. All the other kids would just bung on some pop music and dance. I remember the examiners sitting there looking at me, perplexed." Arnold left high school when she was 16, when she was drawn to becoming an actress. When Arnold was 18 years old she left Kent for London where she began working as a host and actress for a children's TV show called "No. 73". She worked in TV for the next 10 years, while continually writing on the side. She began scripting her youth oriented environmental series titled A Beetle Called Derek in the mid-1990s, where she began to yearn to direct. Arnold realised she could turn her stories into films, so she studied at the American Film Institute of Los Angeles where she gained experience in the film industry. After finishing school and returning to Britain she had her daughter, Coral and began making short films for TV.

Podcasts:

Famous quotes by Andrea Arnold:

"I said dog's bollocks during the ceremony - was it beeped?"
"It's kind of a Catch-22 because the rain is good for the farmers, but our festival got canceled."
"Every time I start a film I feel like I'm starting the first time, ever."
"I'm fascinated with what an audience will take away from an image."
"I'm lucky."
"I hear filmmakers saying, 'I wanted to make to make a film about this issue, or this theme,' but I never start like that."
"I find it kind of weird that directors want to put themselves in their films."
"I just like doing things from my own head."
"I don't want to think too much about me."
"I definitely feel sorry more people don't get to see my films. They aren't inaccessible, and if people got the chance to see them, I know they'd like them."
"I grew up in a working-class family, so I guess you could say I write from what I know."
"I don't feel very revengeful in life at all."
"I deliberately never read about films before I see them."
"I can't remember why or how I started writing, but I think it was always a way of making sense of the world."
"I never write with an actor in mind - never."
"I am obsessed with why people turn out the way they are."
"For me, making films is about trying to work something out by myself in quite a lonely way. I find the whole thing very lonely really."
"Films are all about decisions, and that's what I love."
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Latest News for: andrea arnold

“Europe in Cinema” film series continuing in March 2025

Philenews 14 Mar 2025
The film series continues with the screening of Bird (2024), a British, American, French and German co-production, directed by Andrea Arnold. The screening is organised by the British Council ... The film will be screened in English with Greek subtitles.

Champions League Live: Latest score, team news and updates as Atletico host Real in huge ...

The Daily Mail 12 Mar 2025
Arsenal's new sporting director Andrea Berta's BEST and WORST transfers at Atletico MadridTrent Alexander Arnold ruled OUT of Sunday's Carabao Cup final against Newcastle after coming ...

European films continue in free screenings

CyprusMail 11 Mar 2025
The screening programme showcasing European films from a wide array of genres and languages through 2025 continues with an upcoming film night ... It is a British, American, French and German co-production, directed by Andrea Arnold ... Europe in Cinema.

Surprise strike at Germany's Hamburg Airport affects more than 40,000 passengers

National Public Radio 10 Mar 2025
The walkout, which reportedly took place with only about a half-hour advance notice, came before a broader series of preannounced strikes across 13 airports in Germany on Monday. (Image credit. Andreas Arnold) ....

Oscars 2026: Donald Clarke predicts these 10 films will get best-picture nominations next year

The Irish Times 04 Mar 2025
You might reasonably argue that, after a humiliating 2025 edition, this annual exercise in soothsaying should take itself into quiet retirement ... Dune ... Joker ... Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch and Andrea Arnold’s Bird were not insane picks from that distance.

Staircase Studio, a New AI Production Company, Looks to Produce 30 Films in 4 Years

The Wrap 04 Mar 2025
Pouya Shahbazian, producer of the “Divergent” films and Andrea Arnold’s Cannes Jury Prize-winning “American Honey,” has launched the new AI production company Staircase ...

‘She was so much fun to play’: Ella Lily Hyland, breakout star of Black Doves, on her wise-cracking assassin

The Observer 02 Mar 2025
“She’s really shy.” ... It’s the third major role for Hyland in as many years ... Photograph ... Hyland is inspired by film-makers such as Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex) and Andrea Arnold, and the rebellious spirit of Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes ... .
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