Biography of Paul Thomas Anderson

Paul Thomas Anderson was born June 26, 1970, in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. He would go on to set many of his films in the valley. He is one of nine children, and his father, Ernie, was an actor who read announcements for ABC and was the host of the Cleveland edition of Shock Theater. Anderson made short films from a young age, most notably The Dirk Diggler Story, which would eventually serve as the basis for Anderson’s breakout hit Boogie Nights (1997).

Anderson briefly attended several colleges but dropped out of all of them after a short period. After leaving NYU’s film program after only two days, Anderson made a short film called Cigarettes and Coffee with the money he had intended to spend on his tuition. The film garnered significant attention at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, eventually paving the way for him to make his feature debut, Hard Eight (1996). The next year, he released Boogie Nights, launching his career in earnest and earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay (he would go on to be nominated for the award again two years later for Magnolia and for Adapted Screenplay for both There Will Be Blood (2007) and Inherent Vice (2014)).

He followed Boogie Nights with Magnolia (1999), Adam Sandler collaboration Punch-Drunk Love (2002), There Will Be Blood (2007), The Master (2012), Inherent Vice, and most recently Phantom Thread (2017). Each film has received significant critical acclaim, and Anderson has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director (for There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread). Anderson has not publicly discussed his next project, but it is rumored to be a historical work on the Little Harlem community of 1940s Los Angeles, made in collaboration with comedian Tiffany Haddish. Anderson is in a long-term relationship with comedian Maya Rudolph. They have four children.