Cast & creator
Mike Leigh
Best known for The One Show, The One Show, The South Bank Show
Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is a retired British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s his career moved between work for the theatre and making films for BBC Television, many of which were characterized by a gritty "kitchen sink realism" style. His well-known films include Life is Sweet (1990), the comedy-drama Career Girls (1997), the Gilbert and Sullivan biopic Topsy Turvy (1999), and the bleak working-class drama All or Nothing (2002). His most notable works are arguably Naked (1993) for which he won the Best Director Award at Cannes, the BAFTA-winning (and Oscar-nominated) Palme d'Or winner Secrets & Lies (1996) and Golden Lion winner Vera Drake (2004). His films and stage plays, according to the critic Michael Coveney, "comprise a distinctive, homogenous body of work which stands comparison with anyone's in the British theatre and cinema over the same period." Coveney further noted Leigh's role in helping to create stars – Liz Smith in Hard Labour, Alison Steadman in Abigail's Party, Brenda Blethyn in Grown-Ups, Antony Sher in Goose-Pimples, Gary Oldman and Tim Roth in Meantime, Jane Horrocks in Life is Sweet, David Thewlis in Naked – and remarked that the list of actors who have worked with him over the years – including Sheila Kelley, Paul Jesson, Phil Daniels, Lindsay Duncan, Lesley Sharp, Kathy Burke, Stephen Rea, Eric Richard, Julie Walters – "comprises an impressive, almost representative, nucleus of outstanding British acting talent." Ian Buruma, writing in the New York Review of Books in January 1994, noted: "It is hard to get on a London bus or listen to the people at the next table in a cafeteria without thinking of Mike Leigh. Like other wholly original artists, he has staked out his own territory. Leigh's London is as distinctive as Fellini's Rome or Ozu's Tokyo." Description above from the Wikipedia article Mike Leigh, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Also known as: 마이크 리, Michael Leigh
94
film credits
25
television credits
36
1953–2026 · acting roles
6.6
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (119)
Showing 119 of 119 credits
The One Show
Self - Guest
2006The One Show
Self
2006
The South Bank Show
1978
Play for Today
Director
1970Play for Today
Writer
1970
Playhouse
Director
1974Playhouse
Writer
1974
Omnibus
Self
1967Film '72
Self
1971The Alan Titchmarsh Show
Self
2007
The Oscars
Self
1953
Maigret
1960
The Culture Show
Self
2004
Square
Self
2012
Remembers…
Self
2022
Le Cercle
2005Second City Firsts
Director
1973Second City Firsts
Writer
1973
British Film Forever
2007
Naked
Director
1993Naked
Writer
1993
Secrets & Lies
Director
1996Secrets & Lies
Writer
1996
Hard Truths
Director
2024Hard Truths
Writer
2024
Another Year
Writer
2010Another Year
Director
2010
Mr. Turner
Director
2014Mr. Turner
Writer
2014
Happy-Go-Lucky
Director
2008Happy-Go-Lucky
Writer
2008
Vera Drake
Director
2004Vera Drake
Writer
2004
All or Nothing
Writer
2002All or Nothing
Director
2002
Cinema16: British Short Films
Self - Commentary, The Short & Curlies (voice)
2003Cinema16: British Short Films
Director
2003
Tender Loving Care
Director
2026Tender Loving Care
Writer
2026
Topsy-Turvy
Writer
1999Topsy-Turvy
Director
1999
Welcome to Hollywood
Mike Leigh
2000
Cannes Uncut
Self
2023
Life Is Sweet
Writer
1991Life Is Sweet
Director
1991
Reel Britannia
Self
2022
Career Girls
Writer
1997Career Girls
Director
1997In Confidence
2010
Peterloo
Director
2018Peterloo
Writer
2018
Inside the Golden Statue
Self
1998
Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light
Self
2016
Home Sweet Home
Director
1982Home Sweet Home
Writer
1982
Mike Leigh: Making Plays
Self
1982
High Hopes
Director
1989High Hopes
Writer
1989
Naked
Creator
1993
Why Are We (Not) Creative?
Self
2021
Two Mikes Don't Make a Wright
Director
1993
A Sense of History
Director
1992The One and Only Mike Leigh
Self
2014
Fast Hands
Title Designer
1976
Meantime
Writer
1983Meantime
Director
1983
Bleak Moments
Director
1972Bleak Moments
Writer
1972
The Short & Curlies
Director
1987The Short & Curlies
Writer
1987
All About 'Abigail's Party'
Self
2007
Two Left Feet
Jim (uncredited)
1963
Four Days in July
Director
1984Four Days in July
Writer
1984
The Kiss of Death
Director
1977The Kiss of Death
Writer
1977
What Is Cinema?
Self
2013
Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today
Self – Filmmaker
2020
The Pirates of Penzance
Production Director
2015
Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain
Self
2025
Abigail's Party
Director
1977Abigail's Party
Writer
1977
Her Name Was Moviola
Self
2024
Grown-Ups
Director
1980Grown-Ups
Writer
1980
Vittorio D.
Self
2009
A Running Jump
Director
2012A Running Jump
Writer
2012
Shuttlecock
Title Designer
1976
Five-Minute Films
Director
1982Five-Minute Films
Writer
1982Five-Minute Films
Creator
1982
Scenes from A Separation
Self
2018
Who's Who
Director
1979Who's Who
Writer
1979
West 11
1963
Nuts in May
Director
1976Nuts in May
Writer
1976
A Mug's Game?
Writer
1973A Mug's Game?
Director
1973
Hard Labour
Director
1973Hard Labour
Writer
1973
Afternoon
Director
1982Afternoon
Writer
1982
The Permissive Society
Director
1975The Permissive Society
Writer
1975
Old Chums
Director
1982Old Chums
Writer
1982Looking for Truffaut
Self
2009
The Birth of the Goalie of the 2001 F.A. Cup Final
Director
1982The Birth of the Goalie of the 2001 F.A. Cup Final
Writer
1982
Citizen B
Self
2025Mike Leigh: The Conversation
Self - Interviewee
2000A Light Snack
Director
1982A Light Snack
Writer
1982
Untitled 13
Probation
Director
1982Probation
Writer
1982
The Party
Writer
2009