Jordans Career

John Boorman (an English filmmaker) was filming Excalibur in Ireland, and recruited Neil Jordan as a script consultant. This eventually led to his first film that he wrote and directed himself, Angel, a stylish 1982 crime drama. His first success was the film Mona Lisa (1986), where he became recognized as an emerging talent in international cinema. Following Mona Lisa he directed two more films which turned out to be major disappointments, High Spirits (1988) and We’re No Angels (1989). He then returned to Ireland to direct The Miracle (1991), a drama about two Irish teens, and somewhat rebounded from his two last disappointments. He then directed The Crying Game, and received an Oscar and a New York Film Critics Circle award for his screenplay. After this major establishment of his reputation he returned to Hollywood and directed Interview with the Vampire (1994). Another success was Michael Collins (1996), which won him a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Jordan then won a Best Directors nod at the Berlin Film Festival for his movie The Butcher Boy (1997). He also earned the Venice Film Festival’s Silver Lion for handling of such difficult material. After a disappointing Hollywood outing, In Dreams (1999), he returned later that year with The End Of The Affair, which was based on a Graham Greene novel, which won a BAFTA Film Awards for Best Screenplay. Jordan received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the IFTA awards in 2003.

"The Internet Movie Data Base." Biography for Neil Jordan. amazon.com, 2010. Web. 26 Mar 2010. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001403/bio.

"Tribute Entertainment Media Group." Neil Jordan Bio. N.p., 26 mar 2010. Web. 26 Mar 2010. http://www.tribute.ca/people/Neil+Jordan/2233.

Jordans Biography

On February 25, 1950 Neil Jordan was born to parents Angela O'Brien, a painter, and Michael Jordan, a university professor, in Sligo County, Ireland. His parents were Catholics so they educated their son at St. Paul's College. Neil Jordan once said "I was brought up a Catholic and was quite religious at one stage of my life, when I was young. But it left me with no scars whatever; it just sort of vanished."[1] He is currently an atheist and stated that "God is the greatest imaginary being of all time. Along with Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, the invention of God is probably the greatest creation of human thought."[1]. Jordan later attended University College in Dublin and studied Irish history and English literature. Neil has 5 children, Anna and Sarah from his first marriage with Vivienne Shields; Dashiel and Daniel from his second and current marriage with Brenda Rawn; and Ben, a child from a former relationship with Mary Donohoe, an architect. Jordan once said "I'm fascinated by monsters [and] monstrous people and fascinated with illogic and irrationality"[1] and doesn’t understand why “so many Irish plays now have the structure of a dream and use the language of poetry? There is a lack of astringency about the whole thing which is vaguely irritating."[1]

[1] Sragow, Michael. "Beautiful Dreamer." (1999): n. pag. Web. 24 Mar 2010. http://www.salon.com/entertainment/col/srag/1999/12/09/jordan/index.html

"Neil Jordan Biography." NetIndustries (2009): n. pag. Web. 25 Mar 2010. http://www.filmreference.com/film/73/Neil-Jordan.html