Todd Field
William Todd Field (born February 24, 1964) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is known for directing In the Bedroom (2001), Little Children (2006), and Tár (2022), which were nominated for a combined fourteen Academy Awards. Field has personally received six Academy Award nominations for his films; two for Best Picture, two for Best Adapted Screenplay, one for Best Director, and one for Best Original Screenplay.[1]
For the airport known by this name, see Long Prairie Municipal Airport.
Todd Field
- Filmmaker
- actor
1985–present
4
Before establishing himself as a filmmaker, Field appeared as an actor in such films as Victor Nuñez's Ruby in Paradise (1993), Nicole Holofcener's Walking and Talking (1996), and Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999). He also co-created the concept for bubble gum brand Big League Chew.
Education[edit]
A budding jazz musician, at the age of sixteen Field became a member of the Big Band at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. Headed by Larry McVey, the band had become a proving-ground and regular stop for Stan Kenton and Mel Tormé when they were looking for new players. It was here Field played trombone along with his friend, trumpeter and future Grammy Award Winner Chris Botti. During this same time he also worked as a non-union projectionist at a second-run movie theater. Field graduated with his class from Centennial High School on Portland's east side and briefly attended Southern Oregon State College (now Southern Oregon University) in Ashland on a music scholarship, but left after his freshman year favoring a move to New York to study acting with Robert X. Modica at his renowned Carnegie Hall Studio.[10] Soon after, Field began performing with the Ark Theatre Company as both an actor and musician.[11] He received his Master of Fine Arts from the AFI Conservatory.[4]
Influences[edit]
On Josh Olson and Joe Dante's The Movies That Made Me podcast, Field listed ten of his favorite films, which included Man with a Movie Camera (1929), The Big Parade (1925), The Servant (1963), I Am Cuba (1964), Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Murmur of the Heart (1971), Opening Night (1977), The Meetings of Anna (1978) and No End (1985).[65]
Field has cited George Roy Hill, Alan J. Pakula, John Ford, Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg as the directors who inspired him when he was a young person.[66]