Sam Mendes

Who is Sam Mendes?

Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for directing American Beauty, which earned him the Academy and Golden Globe Award for Best Director, the crime film Road to Perdition, and the James Bond film Skyfall. He also is known for dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret, Oliver!, Company, and Gypsy. He directed an original stage musical for the first time with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

In 2000, Mendes was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to drama" and in the same year was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg, Germany. In 2005, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain.