David Yates

David Yates (born 1963) is a BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning English film and television director, best known for his work on the most recent Harry Potter films.

Personal life

Yates was first inspired to become a director when he saw Steven Spielberg's Jaws, and his mother bought him his first camera at the age of 14. He then began making small movies with his brother, Andrew, in local parks. He studied Politics, English literature and Sociology at St Helens College in Merseyside, and scored two 'A' grades and a 'C' despite spending six months in hospital at the time. He then attended the University of Essex, followed by the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, where he excelled as a student.

Career

He has worked extensively in British television, mainly for the BBC, helming high-profile drama projects such as When I Was a Girl (1991), The Sins (2000), The Way We Live Now (2001), Paul Abbott's State of Play (2003), The Young Visiters (2003), Sex Traffic (2004) and Richard Curtis's The Girl in the Café (2005).

He received his highest-profile assignment to date when he was chosen to direct the fifth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Yates was the person that chose composer Nicholas Hooper to score the film. Yates will also direct the sixth film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which began filming in September 2007, and the final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, expected 2010-11. This has been decided to be split into two parts, as David Yates apparently wishes the film to fulfil the book. He will also be directing The Giver, based on the book by Lois Lowry. It is to be released in 2011.

In 2006 he won an Emmy Award for Best Direction in a Made for Television Movie for The Girl in the Café.

References

External links

• David Yates at the Internet Movie Database.
• Article on David Yates