Woody Allen (2006).jpeg

Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many

accolades The accolade (also known as dubbing or adoubement) ( la, benedictio militis) was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. From about 1852, the term ''accolade'' was used much more generally to ...

, including the most nominations (16) for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He has won four

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, ten BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

, as well as nominations for a Emmy Award and a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

. Allen was awarded an Honorary Golden Lion in 1995, the

BAFTA Fellowship The BAFTA Fellowship, or the Academy Fellowship, is a lifetime achievement award presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in recognition of "outstanding achievement in the art forms of the moving image". The award is t ...

in 1997, an

Honorary Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

in 2002, and the

Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award The Cecil B. DeMille Award is an honorary Golden Globe Award bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) for "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment". The HFPA board of directors selects the honorees from a variety ...

in 2014. Two of his films have been inducted into the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

. Allen began his career writing material for television in the 1950s, alongside

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...

Carl Reiner Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, ...

Larry Gelbart Larry Simon Gelbart (February 25, 1928 – September 11, 2009) was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter, director and author, most famous as a creator and producer of the television series ''M*A*S*H'', and as co-writer of the B ...

, and

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

. He also published several books of short stories and wrote humor pieces for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''. In the early 1960s, he performed as a stand-up comedian in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

, where he developed a monologue style (rather than traditional jokes) and the persona of an insecure, intellectual, fretful

nebbish {{Short pages monitor * * * * (''Fresh Air''), June 15, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Woody Woody Allen, 1935 births Living people 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century clarinetists 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century clarinetists Jews from New York (state) American comedy writers American jazz clarinetists American male comedians American male dramatists and playwrights American male film actors American male jazz musicians American male musicians American male non-fiction writers American male screenwriters American male short story writers American male television writers American male voice actors American parodists American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American satirists American short story writers American stand-up comedians American television directors American television writers Audiobook narrators BAFTA fellows Best Directing Academy Award winners Best Director BAFTA Award winners Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners Best Original Screenplay BAFTA Award winners Best Screenplay BAFTA Award winners Capitol Records artists Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners César Award winners Colpix Records artists Comedians from Brooklyn Comedians from Manhattan Comedy film directors David di Donatello winners Directors Guild of America Award winners Dixieland clarinetists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Film directors from New York City Filmmakers who won the Best Film BAFTA Award Grammy Award winners Hugo Award-winning writers Independent Spirit Award winners Jazz musicians from New York (state) Jewish American comedy writers Jewish American dramatists and playwrights Jewish film people Jewish American male actors Jewish American comedians Jewish American screenwriters Jewish American musicians Jewish humorists Jewish male comedians Jewish singers Male actors from Brooklyn Male actors from Manhattan Midwood High School alumni Nebula Award winners O. Henry Award winners Parody film directors People from Midwood, Brooklyn People from the Upper East Side Postmodernist filmmakers Screenwriters from New York (state) Tisch School of the Arts alumni Writers from Brooklyn Writers Guild of America Award winners Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement recipients Best Screenplay Golden Globe winners Directors of Best Picture Academy Award winners