Bill Condon
Birthdate: Oct 22, 1955
Birthplace: New York City, New York, USA
Bill Condon (birthname: William Patrick Condon) is a versatile director/writer of movies ranging from biopics to musicals as well as franchises, launching his working film career (after working as a cinema journalist) as co-screenwriter and an associate producer on director/co-writer Michael Laughlin’s New Zealand/Australian slasher movie, Strange Behavior (1981), with Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher, Dan Shor and Fiona Lewis, and released in the U.S. by World Northal, as well as the sci-fi-themed follow-up, the American-produced Strange Invaders (1983), starring Paul Le Mat, Nancy Allen, Diana Scarwid, Michael Lerner and Fletcher, and released to poor box office (and thus killing off the potential Strange trilogy) by Orion Pictures.
Condon made his directorial and writing feature debut with the Louisiana-set psychological horror movie Sister, Sister (1987), co-starring Eric Stoltz, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Judith Ivey. Co-written by Ginny Cerrella and Joel Cohen, the film launched at the Toronto Film Festival and was released by New World Pictures.
Condon was the writer only of the thriller sequel, F/X2 (1991), co-starring Bryan Brown and Brian Dennehy, with Rachel Ticotin, Joanna Gleason, Philip Bosco, and Kevin J. O’Connor, and distributed by Orion Pictures (U.S.)/Columbia Pictures (International).
Then Condon returned to the director's chair for the horror sequel, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995), based on a story by Clive Barker, featuring Tony Todd, Kelly Rowan, and Veronica Cartwright, with music by Philip Glass and released by Gramercy Pictures. Condon won his first Oscar (for Best Adapted Screenplay) as director/writer of the partially fictionalized portrait of film director James Whale, Gods and Monsters (1998), starring Ian McKellan (Oscar nominated for Best Actor), Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave (Oscar nominated for Best Supporting Actress), and released by Lions Gate Films (U.S.)/Downtown Pictures (U.K.).
Bill Condon earned his second Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for his big-screen version of the Bob Fosse/Fred Ebb/John Kander 1975 musical and Maurine Dallas Watkins’s 1926 play, Chicago (2002)—the first musical to win the Best Picture Oscar in 35 years--starring Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta Jones (Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress), Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Lucy Liu and Colm Feore under Rob Marshall’s direction, and which grossed a knockout $307 million for Miramax Films (U.S.)/Alliance Atlantis (Canada)/Buena Vista International (International).
Condon’s third feature as director/writer was the acclaimed biopic, Kinsey (2004), starring Liam Neeson, Laura Linney (nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar), Chris O’Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Tim Curry, Oliver Platt and Dylan Platt, co-produced by American Zoetrope/Myriad Pictures and released by Fox Searchlight Pictures after premiering at the Telluride Film Festival.
Condon’s first musical as director/writer was the big-screen adaptation of Henry Krieger’s and Trom Eyen’s 1981 The Supremes-inspired musical, Dreamgirls (2006), starring Jennifer Hudson (who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar), Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover and Keith Robinson, nominated for eight Oscars and which grossed a good $155.4 million for Paramount Pictures (which co-produced with DreamWorks Pictures).
Condon co-wrote (with credited writers Pete Dexter and Nancy Cassaro) the much-delayed fantasy comedy and box-office disaster, Shortcut to Happiness (shot in 2001 and released by Yari Film Group in 2007), directed and starring Alec Baldwin, with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Anthony Hopkins, Dan Aykroyd, Kim Cattrall, and Amy Poehler.
Bill Condon was director of both sequels, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part One (2011) and Part Two (2012), based on Stephanie Meyer’s best sellers, starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, and Elizabeth Reaser, and earning a huge $1.56 billion box office for distributor Summit Entertainment.
Condon, as director only, returned to dramas portraying famed and eccentric personalities with The Fifth Estate (2013), about Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Bruhl, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Stanley Tucci and Laura Linney, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Reliance Distribution/Mister Smith Entertainment.
Condon reunited with co-stars Ian McKellan and Laura Linney as director of the Sherlock Holmes mystery, Mr. Holmes (2015), a U.K.-U.S. co-production based on the Mitch Cullin novel, A Slight Trick of the Mind, with Milo Parker, Hiroyuki Sanada and Frances Barber, and which earned distributors Roadside Attractions/Miramax/Entertainment One nearly $30 million after premiering at the Berlin Film Festival.
Cond, on as director, only had his biggest commercial triumph with Disney’s live-action remake of the 1991 animated movie, Beauty and the Beast (2017), starring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellan and Emma Thompson, and grossing a powerhouse $1.26 billion.
Bill Condon was the co-writer of the smash musical hit, The Greatest Showman (2017), starring Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, and Zendaya, produced by Chernin Entertainment/Laurence Mark Productions, and earning a huge $459 million return for 20th Century Fox. Condon reunited as director/producer with co-star Ian McKellan, along with co-star Helen Mirren, in the crime thriller, The Good Liar (2019), based on Nicholas Searle’s 2015 novel, with Russell Tovey and Jim Carter, backed by New Line Cinema/Bron Creative/1000 Eyes and grossing $34 million for distributor Warner Bros. Pictures.
Condon was director/writer/executive producer of the first English/Spanish-language and second feature film version of the 1976 Manuel Puig novel and the Terrence McNally/John Kander/Fred Ebb stage musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman (2025), co-starring Jennifer Lopez, Tonatiuh and Diego Luna, launching at the Sundance Film Festival and released wide by Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions/LD Entertainment.
Personal life
Bill Condon was born and raised in New York City by his mother and father (an NYPD detective). Condon, who was raised in an Irish Catholic family, attended and graduated from the all-male Jesuit school, Regis High School, in Manhattan. Condon then attended Columbia University, where he majored in Philosophy. Condon, who is gay, has been in a long-term relationship with Jack Morissey. Condon’s height is 5’ 5”. Condon’s estimated net worth is $5 million.
Known For
Dreamgirls
(2006)
Gods and Monsters
(1998)
Kinsey
(2004)
Chicago
(2002)
Bill Condon Movies
director
Previous (5)
- 2025 |
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Valentín, a political prisoner, shares a cell with Molina, convicted for public indecency. An unlikely bond forms as Molina recounts a Hollywood musical plot starring Ingrid Luna.
- 2019 |
The Good Liar
Consummate con man Roy Courtnay has set his sights on his latest mark: the recently widowed Betty McLeish, worth millions. But this time, what should have been a simple swindle escalates into a cat-and-mouse game with the ultimate stakes.
- 2017 |
Beauty and the Beast
A brave, beautiful, and brilliant young woman is imprisoned by a beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she learns to see beyond the beast's hideous exterior and realize the gentle heart of the true prince within him.
- 2012 |
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
After the birth of Renesmee/Nessie, the Cullens gather other vampire clans in order to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family in front of the Volturi.
- 2011 |
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
The Quileutes close in on expecting parents Edward and Bella, whose unborn child poses a threat to the Wolf Pack and the towns people of Forks.
actor
Previous (15)
writer
Previous (1)
- 2017 |
The Greatest Showman
Celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.
Facts About Bill Condon
Before Filmmaking: Bill Condon’s first job in the film industry was as a publicist with Avco Embassy.
Stage Director: Condon directed a revised version of the 1997 stage musical, Side Show, in a 2013 production at the La Jolla Playhouse, later transferred to the Kennedy Center.
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