Steven Soderbergh rose to fame at the tender age of 26 in 1986 when his indie drama Sex, Lies, and Videotape won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and became a worldwide commercial success. Soderbergh was the youngest director to win the festival’s top award.
His films are usually both critically acclaimed and commercial Hollywood successes, showing depth and craft but also appealing to the masses. Prime examples of his films include the crime comedy Out of Sight (1998) with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, the biographical film Erin Brockovich (2000) starring Julia Roberts, the crime drama film Traffic (2000) with Benecio Del Toro, the 2001 remake of the comedy heist film Ocean’s 11 with it’s all star cast including Brad Pitt, the remake of Solaris (2002), black comedy The Informant (2009) with Matt Damon, the medical thriller Contagion (2011) with Gwyneth Paltrow, the comedy-drama Magic Mike (2012) with Channing Tatum, and Behind The Candelabra: My Life With Liberace (2013) starring Michael Douglas as the wayward musician.
Steven continued to make less conventional works, such as the mystery thriller Kafka (1991); the experimental comedy film Schizopolis (1996) which has a non-linear narrative; Full Frontal (2003) deliberately blurred the lines between actors playing roles and fictionalised versions of themselves; Bubble (2005), which uses no script and non-professional actors; the experimental drama film The Girlfriend Experience (2009), which starred the then-active pornographic actress Sasha Grey; and the biopic about Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Che (2008).
He made the notable HBO television series K Street (2003) which caused waves in the 2004 Democratic primary with it’s partially improvised style, and production of each episode five days prior to airing, that brought extremely topical issues to screen as they unfolded. More recently he announced a drawing back from movie directing but then made the HBO series The Knick (2014) to great acclaim and helped Spike Jonze with his extraordinary film Her (2013).
Born January 14th 1963 in Atlanta Georgia, USA. He was one of six children, his father Peter was of Swedish and Irish descent, while his mother was Italian American. The family moved to Baton Rouge Louisiana when Steven was very young. His father was a Professor and Dean of the College of Education at Louisiana State University and this was where Soderbergh first got a taste for filmmaking, taking a class in film animation despite still being at high school and only 15 years old. He experimented with short 16” films until he graduated high school, then set off for Hollywood as a freelance editor.
In 1986 the rock group Yes assigned him to shoot a full-length concert film for the band, and the success of this film allowed Steven opportunities to begin to break through as a filmmaker. Notably Soderbergh filmed Winston in 1987, this short would later expand into Sex, Lies, and Videotape in 1989. Set in Baton Rouge, and starring James Spader and Andie MacDowell, this cult indie tells the story of a man who films women discussing their sexuality.
Soderbergh enjoys working with actors on more than one project and has a fine line up of returning stars including; Don Cheadle, Joe Chrest, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Viola Davis, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Douglas, Albert Finney, Luis Guzmán, Eddie Jemison, Nicky Katt, Jeroen Krabbé, Julia Roberts, Channing Tatum, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Soon after the success of Sex, Lies and Videotape in 1989 he was married to actress Betsy Brantley and had a daughter with her. He also has a second daughter from a different relationship. Currently he is married to Jules Asner whom he often cites as a muse.
Steven Soderbergh Filmography
Director
2014/15 The Knick (TV Series) (20 episodes)
2013 Behind the Candelabra (TV Movie)
2013 Side Effects
2012 An Amazing Time: A Conversation About End of the Road (Video documentary short)
2012 Magic Mike
2011 Haywire
2011 The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg (Video)
2011 Contagion
2009 The Informant!
2009 The Girlfriend Experience
2008 Che: Part One – The Argentine
2008 Che: Part Two – Guerrilla
2007 Ocean’s Thirteen
2006 The Good German
2005 Bubble
2004 Ocean’s Twelve
2004 Eros (segment “Equilibrium”)
2003 K Street (TV Series) (10 episodes)
2002 Solaris
2002 Full Frontal
2001 Ocean’s Eleven
2000 Traffic
2000 Erin Brockovich
1999 The Limey
1998 Out of Sight
1996 Schizopolis (uncredited)
1996 Gray’s Anatomy
1995 The Underneath
1993 King of the Hill
1993-1995 Fallen Angels (TV Series) (2 episodes)
1991 Kafka
1989 Sex, Lies, and Videotape
1985 Access All Areas (Video short)
1985 Yes: 9012 Live (Video documentary)
Producer: Film
2015 Magic Mike XXL (executive producer)
2014 Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (associate producer)
2011 We Need to Talk About Kevin (executive producer)
2010 Rebecca H. (Return to the Dogs) (executive producer)
2009 Solitary Man (producer)
2007 I’m Not There. (executive producer)
2007 Michael Clayton (executive producer)
2007 Wind Chill (executive producer)
2006 Pu-239 (executive producer)
2006 A Scanner Darkly (executive producer)
2005 Rumor Has It… (executive producer)
2005 Syriana (executive producer)
2005 Good Night, and Good Luck. (executive producer)
2005 The Jacket (producer)
2004 Keane (executive producer)
2004 Criminal (producer)
2004 Able Edwards (executive producer)
2002 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (executive producer)
2002 Far from Heaven (executive producer)
2002 Welcome to Collinwood (producer)
2002 Insomnia (executive producer)
1998 Pleasantville (producer)
1996 The Daytrippers (producer)
1993 Suture (executive producer)
Producer: Documentary
2014 Citizenfour (Documentary) (executive producer)
2012 Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out (Documentary) (executive producer)
2009 Playground (Documentary) (executive producer)
2008 Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (Documentary) (executive producer)
2005 Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2 1/2 (Documentary) (executive producer)
2002 Naqoyqatsi (Documentary) (executive producer)
2001 Tribute (Documentary) (executive producer)
2001 Who Is Bernard Tapie? (Documentary) (executive producer)
Producer: TV
2016 The Girlfriend Experience (TV Series) (executive producer – 13 episodes) (completed)
2014-2015 The Knick (TV Series) (executive producer – 20 episodes)
2014-2015 Red Oaks (TV Series) (executive producer – 10 episodes)
2011 His Way (TV Movie documentary) (executive producer)
2005 Unscripted (TV Series) (executive producer – 10 episodes)
2003 K Street (TV Series) (executive producer – 10 episodes)
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