ALEXANDER PAYNE

Grandson of Greek immigrants, Alexander Payne grew up in Nebraska, USA. He studied History and Spanish Literature at Stanford University and earned a Master's degree in Film Directing at UCLA. Payne made his feature film directorial debut with the black comedy Citizen Ruth (1996). This was followed by the political satire Election (1999), for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, and the dramedy About Schmidt (2002).

He won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay twice for the films Sideways (2004) and The Descendants (2011) and was nominated for the Best Director for these as well as for the road film Nebraska (2013). He has since directed the dramedies Downsizing (2017) and The Holdovers (2023). His eight films have been nominated for a total of 24 Oscars, including four nominations for Best Picture and three for Best Director. His latest film, The Holdovers (2023), won the Best Supporting Actress Award. Alexander Payne is currently working on a new volume of poetry. His first volume, Between the Sacred and the Profane, was published in 1997 and translated into 11 languages.