Woody Allen

Actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright "Woody Allen" redefined film comedy during the 1970s, bringing a new measure of sophistication and personal complexity to the form. His movies -- intimate meditations on recurring subjects such as art, religion, and romance -- put a knowing, confessional spin on the anxieties of contemporary audiences, telescoping their fears and concerns through his own mordantly neurotic onscreen persona. Drawing universal insight from the traditions of Yiddish humor, "Allen" established himself both as a comic Everyman and one of American filmmaking's true auteurs, writing and directing features which broke with established narrative conventions and infused the screen-comedy form with unprecedented substance and depth.

Born Allen Stewart Konigsberg in Brooklyn, NY, on December 1, 1935, he adopted his stage name at the age of 17, and in 1953 enrolled in New York... Full Biography