Jon Amiel

Jon Amiel
Amiel at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival for the premier of Creation
Born	(1948-05-20) 20 May 1948 London, England
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1977–present
Spouse	Tara
Children	3

Jon Amiel (born 20 May 1948) is an English director who has worked in film and television in both the UK and the US. After receiving a BAFTA Award nomination for the BBC series The Singing Detective (1986), he went on to direct films, including Sommersby (1993), Copycat (1995), Entrapment (1999) and The Core (2003).

Biography

Amiel was born in London, to parents who grew up in the East End of London. Amiel's grandparents were immigrants Isaac and Mary Amiel – Polish and Russian Jews. He attended the William Ellis School in Highgate, before studying English literature at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, graduating in 1969. It was while at Cambridge that he became involved with local theatre, and after college he went on to direct for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

After having worked as a story editor for the BBC, he directed the documentary The Silent Twins, and was chosen to direct the Dennis Potter serial The Singing Detective, for which he was BAFTA nominated. He made his feature film debut in 1989 with Queen of Hearts.

His most notable film is 1993's romantic drama Sommersby, starring Jodie Foster and Richard Gere. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $140 million worldwide.

Amiel currently lives in Santa Monica with his wife, Tara, and their two sons, Luke and Max. He also has another son, an aspiring screenwriter, called Leo.

Filmography

Film

Director

• Queen of Hearts (1989)
• Tune in Tomorrow (1990)
• Sommersby (1993)
• Copycat (1995)
• The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)
• Entrapment (1999)
• The Core (2003)
• Creation (2009)
• Masterwork (TBA)

Producer

• Simply Irresistible (1999)

Television

TV shows

Year	Title	Director	Executive Producer	Notes
1982	BBC2 Playhouse	Yes	No	2 episodes
1982-1983	Play for Today	Yes	No	2 episodes
1985	Tandoori Nights	Yes	No	5 episodes
1986	Screen Two	Yes	No	Episode "The Silent Twins"
	The Singing Detective	Yes	No	Mini-Series
1988	The Storyteller	Yes	No	Episode "The Luck Child"
2005	Eyes	Yes	No	Episode "Pilot"
	Reunion	Yes	Yes	Episode "1986"
2007	The Wedding Bells	Yes	Yes	Episode "For Whom the Bells Toll"
2008	The Tudors	Yes	No	2 episodes
2012-2013	The Borgias	Yes	No	4 episodes
2013	Twisted	Yes	No	Episode "Pilot"
2013-2015	Once Upon a Time	Yes	No	2 episodes
2014	Halt and Catch Fire	Yes	No	Episode "Giant"
2015	The Astronaut Wives Club	Yes	No	2 episodes
	Hemlock Grove	Yes	No	Episode "Todos Santos" (Credited as "Jonathan Amiel")
	Wicked City	Yes	No	Episode "Heat Wave"
2015-2016	Aquarius	Yes	No	2 episodes
2016	Marco Polo	Yes	No	2 episodes
2016-2017	Outsiders	Yes	Yes	6 episodes
2017	Ice	Yes	No	Episode "Ice (American TV series)#EpisodesThe Cut"
	Wisdom of the Crowd	Yes	No	Episode "Machine Learning"
2018	Seven Seconds	Yes	No	Mini-series; Episode "Matters of Life and Death"
2019	Proven Innocent	Yes	No	Episode "Shaken"
	Carnival Row	Yes	No	2 episodes
2020	Spinning Out	Yes	No	2 episodes
	Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector	Yes	No	Episode "Original Sin"

TV movies

Year	Title	Director	Executive Producer
1977	Dear Janet Rosenberg, Dear Mister Kooning	Yes	No
1983	Busted	Yes	No
	Romance/Romance	Yes	No
1985	The Last Evensong	Yes	No
2014	Deliverance Creek	Yes	Yes

Awards

1987 BAFTA (British Academy Television Award) Nominee for Best Drama Series: The Singing Detective (1986)

1996 Audience Award *Winner* at the Cognac Festival du Film Policier: Copycat

1990 Deauville Film Festival *Winner* of Critics Award and Audience Award: Tune in Tomorrow...

1989 Montréal World Film Festival *Winner* of Montréal First Film Prize: Queen of Hearts

1990 Paris Film Festival *Winner* of Grand Prix: Queen of Hearts

External links

• Jon Amiel at IMDb
• "Q&A: Jon Amiel". The Hollywood Reporter.