Career

Demme broke into feature film working for exploitation film producer Roger Corman from 1971 to 1976, co-writing and producing Angels Hard as They Come and The Hot Box. He then moved on to directing, with three films (Caged Heat, Crazy Mama, Fighting Mad) for Corman's studio New World Pictures. After Fighting Mad, Demme directed the comedy film Handle with Care for Paramount Pictures in 1977. The film was well received by critics, but received little promotion, and performed poorly at the box office.

Demme's next film, 1980's Melvin and Howard, did not get a wide release, but received a groundswell of critical acclaim, and led to the signing of Demme to direct the Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell star vehicle Swing Shift. Intended as a prestige picture for Warner Bros. as well as a major commercial vehicle for Demme, it instead became a troubled production due to the conflicting visions of Demme and star Hawn. Demme ended up renouncing the finished product, and when the film was released in May 1984, it was generally panned by critics and neglected by moviegoers. After Swing Shift, Demme stepped back from Hollywood to make the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense; the eclectic screwball action-romantic comedy Something Wild; a film-version of the stage production Swimming to Cambodia, by monologist Spalding Gray; and the New York Mafia-by-way-of Downtown comedy Married to the Mob.a

In 1991, Demme won the Academy Award for The Silence of the Lambs—one of only three films to win all the major categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress). Demme followed that up with Philadelphia, which garnered star Tom Hanks a Best Actor Oscar.

Since then, Demme's films have included an adaptation of Toni Morrison's Beloved, and remakes of two popular films: The Truth About Charlie, based on Charade that starred Mark Wahlberg in the Cary Grant role; and The Manchurian Candidate, with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep.

In 2007, Demme's film Man from Plains, a documentary about former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's book tour in promotion of his book Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, premiered at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals.

In 2008, the art-house hit Rachel Getting Married was released, which many critics compared to Demme's films of the late 1970s and 1980s. It was included in many 2008 "best of" lists, and received numerous awards and nominations, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress by lead Anne Hathaway. In 2010, Demme made his first foray into theater, directing Family Week, a play by Beth Henley. The play was produced by MCC Theater and co-starred Rosemarie DeWitt and Sarah Jones.

At one time, Demme was signed on to direct, produce, and write an adaptation of Stephen King's sci-fi novel 11/22/63, but later left due to disagreements with King on what should be included in the script.

Demme has directed music videos for artists such as Suburban Lawns, New Order, KRS-One's H.E.A.L. project and Bruce Springsteen. He also produced a compilation of Haitian music called Konbit: Burning Rhythms of Haiti that was released in 1989. (Lou Reed selected Konbit... as one of his 'picks of 1989'. )

Demme is on the board of directors at Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY. In addition to his role on the board, he curates and hosts a monthly series called "Rarely Seen Cinema".

Clinica Estetico

Demme formed his production company, Clinica Estetico, with producers Edward Saxon and Peter Saraf. They were based out of New York City for fifteen years.

Personal life

Demme was born in 1944 in Baldwin, Nassau County, New York, the son of Dorothy Louise (Rogers) and Robert Eugene Demme, a public relations executive. He graduated from Southwest Miami High School and the University of Florida.

He is currently a member of the steering committee of the Friends of the Apollo Theater in Oberlin, Ohio, along with Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman. In 2013, he returned to Oberlin, as part of an alumni reunion during the class of 2013 graduation ceremony, and received the award for Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts. Demme has three children by two marriages: Ramona, Brooklyn and Jos. He also was the uncle of film director Ted Demme, who died in 2002.

During the 1980s, Demme had a brief romantic relationship with rock singer Belinda Carlisle, who appeared in his movie Swing Shift.

Works

Feature films

Title	Year	Credited as				Notes
		Director	Writer	Producer	Other
Angels Hard as They Come	1971		Yes	Yes
The Hot Box	1972		Yes	Yes		Second unit director
Black Mama White Mama	1973				Story
Caged Heat	1974	Yes	Yes
Crazy Mama	1975	Yes
Fighting Mad	1976	Yes	Yes
Handle with Care	1977	Yes				A.K.A. Citizen's Band
Last Embrace	1979	Yes			Actor	Role: Man on Train
Melvin and Howard	1980	Yes
Swing Shift	1984	Yes
Something Wild	1986	Yes		Yes
Swimming to Cambodia	1987	Yes
Married to the Mob	1988	Yes
The Silence of the Lambs	1991	Yes
Philadelphia	1993	Yes		Yes
Beloved	1998	Yes
The Truth About Charlie	2002	Yes	Yes	Yes
The Manchurian Candidate	2004	Yes		Yes
Rachel Getting Married	2008	Yes		Yes
A Master Builder	2013	Yes
Ricki and the Flash	2015	Yes

Documentaries

Title	Year	Credited as			Notes
		Director	Writer	Producer
Stop Making Sense	1984	Yes	Yes
Haiti: Dreams of Democracy	1987	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cousin Bobby	1992	Yes
The Complex Sessions	1994	Yes
Storefront Hitchcock	1998	Yes
The Agronomist	2003	Yes	Yes	Yes	Cinematographer
Neil Young: Heart of Gold	2006	Yes
Man from Plains	2007	Yes		Yes
New Home Movies From the Lower 9th Ward		Yes
Neil Young Trunk Show	2009	Yes
I'm Carolyn Parker	2011	Yes		Yes	Cinematographer
Neil Young Journeys	2012	Yes		Yes
Enzo Avitabile Music Life		Yes		Yes
What's Motivating Hayes	2015	Yes			Short

Television work

Title	Year	Credited as			Notes
		Director	Writer	Producer
Columbo	1978	Yes			Episode: " Murder Under Glass"
Trying Times	1987	Yes			Episode: "A Family Tree"
Subway Stories	1997	Yes			Segment: ""Subway Car from Hell"
Enlightened	2011	Yes			2 episodes
A Gifted Man		Yes			Episode: "Pilot"
The Killing	2013-14	Yes			2 episodes

Other work

Title	Year	Credited as			Notes
		Director	Producer	Other
Fly Me	1973			Second unit director
The Incredible Melting Man	1977			Actor	Role: Matt Winters
"The Perfect Kiss"	1985	Yes			Music video for New Order
Into the Night				Actor	Role: Federal Agent
"Away"	1988	Yes			Music video for The Feelies
Miami Blues	1990		Yes
Women & Men 2	1991		Yes
Amos & Andrew	1993			Executive producer	Uncredited
Household Saints				Executive producer
One Foot on a Banana Peel, the Other Foot in the Grave: Secrets from the Dolly Madison Room 1994	1994		Yes		Documentary
"Murder Incorporated"	1995	Yes			Music video for Bruce Springsteen
Devil in a Blue Dress				Executive producer
That Thing You Do!	1996		Yes	Actor	Role: Commercial Director
Mandela			Yes
Shadrach	1998			Executive producer
Oz	2000			Actor	Role: Commercial Director
The Opportunists				Executive producer
Maangamizi: The Ancient One	2001			Executive producer
Adaptation.	2002		Yes
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks	2003		Yes
Crude Independence	2009			Executive producer
Gimme the Loot	2012		Yes
Song One	2014		Yes
The Center	2015			Executive producer
Deep Time				Executive producer

Awards and nominations

• Academy Award
  • 1991: The Silence of the Lambs (won - Best Director)
• Golden Globe Award
  • 1991: The Silence of the Lambs (nomination - Best Director)
• BAFTA Award
  • 1991: The Silence of the Lambs (nomination - Best Film)
  • 1991: The Silence of the Lambs (nomination - Best Director)
• Saturn Award
  • 1991: The Silence of the Lambs (nomination)
• Berlin International Film Festival
  • 1991: The Silence of the Lambs (won - Silver Bear for Best Director)
  • 1991: The Silence of the Lambs (nomination - Golden Bear)
  • 1994: Philadelphia (nomination - Golden Bear)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]