
Peter Greenaway
Personal Info
Known for
Directing
Gender
Male
Birthday
1942-04-05 (83 years old)
Place of Birth
Newport, Gwent, Wales, UK
Peter Greenaway
Biography
Peter Greenaway, CBE (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh writer-director, painter, and video artist based in Amsterdam. Throughout the late 1960s and '70s, he produced several experimental documentary/mockumentary shorts while working as a film editor for the Central Office of Information. This early period culminated in "The Falls" (1980), a three-hour mockumentary indexing the strange effects of the VUE (the Violent Unknown Event) on 92 people whose names begin with the letters F-A-L-L. He made his dramatic feature film debut with "The Draughtsman's Contract" (1982), and throughout the 1980s directed a string of critically acclaimed and frequently controversial films: "A Zed & Two Noughts" (1985), "The Belly of an Architect" (1987), "Drowning by Numbers" (1988), and his best-known work, the vicious Thatcher-era satire "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover" (1989). In the 1990s, he directed the Shakespeare adaptation "Prospero's Books" (1991), controversial religious satire "The Baby of Mâcon" (1993), erotic drama "The Pillow Book" (1996), and "8½ Women" (1999), an homage to the films of Federico Fellini, a major influence on Greenaway. In the early 2000s, Greenaway embarked on the ambitious "Tulse Luper" project, a multimedia body of historical fiction revolving around the life of the eponymous fictional hero. In addition to novels, CD-ROMs, online material, and a touring exhibition, the project spawned a trilogy of feature films: "The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story" (2003), "The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 2: Vaux to the Sea" (2004), and "The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 3: From Sark to the Finish" (2004). The trilogy was followed by a fourth feature, "A Life in Suitcases" (2005), which abridges the Tulse Luper saga into a single film. Since the mid 2000s, Greenaway's film work has focused on idiosyncratic, heavily fictionalised biopics dedicated to some of his favourite artists: Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt van Rijn in "Nightwatching" (2007), Dutch Baroque engraver Hendrik Goltzius in "Goltzius and the Pelican Company" (2012), Soviet Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein in "Eisenstein in Guanajuato" (2015), and Romanian-French sculptor Constantin Brâncuși in "Walking to Paris" (TBD). Greenaway has lived and worked in Amsterdam since the mid 1990s. He is married to artist Saskia Boddeke, with whom he has two children. He also has two children from a previous marriage to potter Carol Greenaway.
Known For
Acting
(2023)
(2019)
The Missing Nail
as (voice)
(2019)
(2018)
The Greenaway Alphabet
as Peter Greenaway
(2016)
(2009)
The Wedding at Cana
as Some characters (uncredited)
(2008)
Rembrandt's J'Accuse...!
as Himself / Public Prosecutor
(2004)
Close to Greenaway
as Self
(2003)
Cinema16: British Short Films
as Self - Commentary, Dear Phone (voice)
(2002)
The 92 Faces of Peter Greenaway
as Himself
(1999)
8 ½ Women
as (uncredited)
(1999)
The Death of a Composer: Rosa, a Horse Drama
as Narrator
(1992)
Peter Greenaway: A Documentary
as Himself
(1989)
Fear of Drowning
as Himself
(1989)
Hubert Bals Handshake
as Narrator
(1980)
The Falls
as Interviewer
(1976)
H Is for House
as (voice)
(1976)
Dear Phone
as Narrator
(1974)
Windows
as Narrator
Crew
Walking to Paris
Writer, Director
Tower Stories
Writer, Director
Bosch
Director, Writer
The Food of Love
Writer, Director
Tie and Dye
Editor
(2025)
Blondi
Writer
(2021)
Hotel Royalty Since 1887
Director
(2019)
The Missing Nail
Director, Writer
(2019)
Tintoretto: A Rebel in Venice
Producer
(2017)
Luther and His Legacy
Director
(2016)
Giovanna D'Arco
Stage Director, Director
(2015)
Eisenstein in Guanajuato
Director, Screenplay
(2014)
Goltzius & the Pelican Company
Writer, Director
(2013)
3x3D
Director, Writer
(2012)
Atomic Bombs on the Planet Earth
Director
(2009)
The Wedding at Cana
Director
(2008)
Rembrandt's J'Accuse...!
Director, Screenplay
(2007)
Nightwatching
Director, Writer
(2005)
A Life in Suitcases
Writer, Director
(2005)
Writing on Water
Director, Writer
(2004)
The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 2: Vaux to the Sea
Writer, Director
(2004)
The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 3: From Sark to the Finish
Director, Writer
(2004)
Visions of Europe
Director, Writer
(2004)
The European Showerbath
Director
(2003)
The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story
Director, Writer
(2003)
Cinema16: British Short Films
Director
(2003)
The Tulse Luper Suitcases: Antwerp
Writer, Director
(2002)
The 92 Faces of Peter Greenaway
Director
(2001)
The Man in the Bath
Director
(1999)
8 ½ Women
Director, Screenplay
(1999)
The Death of a Composer: Rosa, a Horse Drama
Director, Stage Director, Writer
(1995)
The Pillow Book
Director, Editor, Writer
(1995)
Lumière & Company
Director
(1994)
Stairs 1 Geneva
Director
(1993)
The Baby of Mâcon
Writer, Director
(1992)
Darwin
Director, Writer
(1992)
(1992)
Rosa
Director
(1992)
Peter Greenaway: A Documentary
Director
(1991)
Prospero's Books
Director, Screenplay
(1991)
M Is for Man, Music and Mozart
Writer, Director
(1990)
A TV Dante
Director
(1989)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
Director, Screenplay
(1989)
Death in the Seine
Director
(1989)
Hubert Bals Handshake
Director
(1989)
Fear of Drowning
Director
(1988)
Drowning by Numbers
Director, Writer
(1987)
The Belly of an Architect
Writer, Director
(1985)
A Zed & Two Noughts
Writer, Director
(1985)
(1984)
Making a Splash
Director
(1983)
Four American Composers: Philip Glass
Director, Writer
(1983)
Four American Composers: John Cage
Director, Writer
(1983)
Four American Composers: Robert Ashley
Director, Writer
(1983)
Four American Composers: Meredith Monk
Director, Writer
(1983)
The Sea in Their Blood
Director, Writer
(1982)
The Draughtsman's Contract
Screenplay, Director
(1982)
The Pledge
Editor
(1981)
Terence Conran
Director
(1981)
Zandra Rhodes
Director, Screenplay
(1981)
The Exile
Director
(1980)
The Falls
Writer, Director, Editor
(1980)
Act of God
Director
(1979)
Leeds Castle
Director
(1978)
Vertical Features Remake
Director, Writer, Director of Photography, Editor
(1978)
A Walk Through H
Director, Editor, Writer, Scenic Artist
(1978)
Water Wrackets
Director, Writer, Editor, Director of Photography
(1978)
Eddie Kidd
Editor, Director
(1976)
Dear Phone
Director, Editor, Writer, Director of Photography
(1976)
H Is for House
Director, Writer, Director of Photography, Editor
(1976)
Goole by Numbers
Director, Writer
(1976)
1-100
Writer, Director
(1976)
Savile Row
Director
(1974)
Windows
Director, Editor, Writer
(1973)
Intervals
Director, Writer
(1971)
Erosion
Director
(1968)
Revolution
Director
(1967)
5 Postcards from Capital Cities
Director
(1966)
Tree
Director
(1966)
Train
Director
(1962)
Death of Sentiment
Director