Danny Boyle’s career started in the theater with Howard Barker’s Victory, Howard Brenton’s The Genius and Edward Bond’s Saved, which won a Time Out Award. He also directed five productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company before moving into television, with his work including Alan Clarke’s controversial Elephant and directing Strumpet, Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise and the series Mr. Wroe’s Virgins for which he received a BAFTA® nomination.
Boyle’s first feature Shallow Grave earned him the Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year at the BAFTA Awards as well as a host of other accolades including Best Director at the San Sebastian Film Festival, The Empire Award for both Best Director and Best British Film and the London Film Critics’ Circle Film Award for Best British Newcomer. His second feature Trainspotting is one of the highest grossing British films of all time. The critically acclaimed film won four Empire Awards including Best Director and Best British Film and was nominated for the BAFTA’s Alexander Korda Award.
In 2002, he made the smash hit horror film 28 Days Later, which earned more than $80 million worldwide. The film earned Boyle a Saturn Award for Best Horror Film from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.
Boyle’s other feature films include Millions starring James Nesbitt, Alex Etel and Lewis McGibbon, The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio, A Life Less Ordinary starring Ewan McGregor and Cameron Diaz, Alien Love Triangle and Sunshine starring Cillian Murphy. Slumdog Millionaire was his eighth international theatrically released film and, beginning with the People’s Choice Award at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, went on to win more than 100 international industry awards including four Golden Globes®, seven BAFTAs and eight Academy Awards®.
2010 saw the release of 127 Hours starring James Franco, which was nominated for six Academy Awards and nine BAFTAs including Best Director.
In 2011, he returned to the theater with his astounding production of Frankenstein for the National Theatre starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller. This production was broadcast to cinemas as a part of National Theatre Live on March 17, 2011.
2012 saw Boyle take on the role of Artistic Director for the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic opening ceremonies.
He went on to direct Trance starring James McAvoy in 2013 and the Channel 4 series Babylon in 2014. The next year, Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet received incredible critical and awards acclaim for Steve Jobs written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Boyle. Kate Winslet won the Best Supporting Actress BAFTA for her role, amongst many nominations and wins for the film.
In 2017, Boyle directed the long-awaited T2 Trainspotting. The sequel to his 1996 classic, it saw the reunion of the original cast and was a critical success. It was awarded Best Feature at the BAFTA Scotland Awards, with Boyle himself awarded Best Director.
Boyle went on to direct the FX series Trust written by Simon Beaufoy and starring Donald Sutherland. The series centers on the abduction of John Paul Getty in 1970 and Boyle directed the opening three episodes and served as executive producer. 2019 saw the release of his feature Yesterday, which was penned by Richard Curtis and starred Lily James.
