Biography

Described by film producer Michael Deeley as "the very best eye in the business", director Ridley Scott was born on November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. His father was an officer in the Royal Engineers and the family followed him as his career posted him throughout the United Kingdom and Europe before they eventually returned to Teesside. Scott wanted to join the British Army (his elder brother Frank had already joined the Merchant Navy) but his father encouraged him to develop his artistic talents instead and so he went to West Hartlepool College of Art and then London's Royal College of Art where he helped found the film department.

In 1962, he joined the BBC as a trainee set designer working on several high profile series. He attended a trainee director's course while he was there and his first directing job was on an episode of the popular BBC police series Z Cars (1962), Error of Judgement (1965). More TV work followed until, frustrated by the poor financial rewards at the BBC, he went into advertising. With his younger brother, Tony Scott, he formed the advertising production company RSA (Ridley Scott Associates) in 1967 and spent the next 10 years making some of the best known and best loved TV adverts ever shown on British television, including a series of ads for Hovis bread set to the music of Dvorak's New World Symphony which are still talked about today ("'e were a great baker were our dad.")

He began working with producer David Puttnam in the 1970s developing ideas for feature films. Their first joint endeavor, Les Duellistes (1977) won the Jury Prize for Best First Work at Cannes in 1977 and was nominated for the Palm d'Or, more than successfully launching Scott's feature film career. The success of Star Wars: Épisode IV - Un nouvel espoir (1977) inspired Scott's interest in making science fiction and he accepted the offer to direct Dan O'Bannon's low budget science fiction horror movie Alien, le 8ème passager (1979), a critical and commercial success that firmly established his worldwide reputation as a movie director.

Blade Runner (1982) followed in 1982 to, at best, a lukewarm reception from public and critics but in the years that followed, its reputation grew - and Scott's with it - as one of the most important sci-fi movies ever made. Scott's next major project was back in the advertising world where he created another of the most talked-about advertising spots in broadcast history when his "1984"-inspired ad for the new Apple Macintosh computer was aired during the Super Bowl on January 22, 1984. Scott's movie career has seen a few flops (notably Legend (1985) and 1492 : Christophe Colomb (1992)), but with successes like Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000) and La Chute du faucon noir (2001) to offset them, his reputation remains solidly intact.

Ridley Scott was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire at the 2003 Queen's New Year Honours for his "substantial contribution to the British film industry". On July 3, 2015, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Royal College of Art in a ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship in 2018. BAFTA described him as "a visionary director, one of the great British film-makers whose work has made an indelible mark on the history of cinema. Forty years since his directorial debut, his films continue to cross the boundaries of style and genre, engaging audiences and inspiring the next generation of film talent."

- IMDb mini biography by: Pedro Borges

He was born in South Shields, North East England and raised in London ,Cumbria, Wales and Germany then returned to North East England to live in Stockton on Tees. He studied at the West Hartlepool College of Art where he studied graphic design and painting, He also studied at the Royal Academy of Art where he made his first short film 'Boy and a Bicycle which starred his brother Tony, Graduating with honors he was awarded a travelling scholarship to America for a year. During that time he was employed by Time Life Inc, where he worked with the award winning documentarians Richard Leacock and D A Pennebaker. Returning to Britain he joined the BBC as a production designer and within a year was promoted to their directing team. He made his directing debut with The Duelists which brought him the Grand Jury Prize at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. His 2nd film was Alien which won an Oscar for Special Effects and was followed by Blade Runner, now considered one of the landmark science fiction films of all time. In 1992 he received his first Oscar nomination and a BAFTA nomination for Best Director for Thelma and Louise which was also nominated for Best Picture Oscar and a BAFTA. Ridley also executive produced the Emmy nominated and Golden Globe Award winning HBO feature RKO 281

In 1995 he and his brother Tony formed Scott Free Entertainment, a film and television production company which since its inception Ridley has directed such films as White Squall, and G.I. Jane and has produced such as Clay Pigeons and Where the Money is. For television the company has produced The Hunger a Cable ACE award winning anthology series for Showtime and Numbers a CBS/Paramount show that went into a second season. The company also executive produced for HBO The Gathering Storm which portrayed the life of Winston Churchill which won 3 Emmy Awards including one for Albert Finney as Outstanding Lead Actor in a mini series and one for Ridley as Executive Producer for Outstanding Made for Television Movie. He also took one home for Best Miniseries or Motion Picture and Albert Finney got Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini Series or Motion Picture Made For Television. The film also won 3 BAFTA Awards, Ridley and Tony were members of the consortium that bought Shepperton Studios in 1995 which merged with Pinewood Studios in 2004

RSA was founded by Ridley and Tony in 1968 and has become one of the most successful commercial production houses in the world. Over the years he's directed over 2,000 commercials many of which have won awards at the Venice and Cannes Film Festivals and he has received numerous awards. He remains actively involved with RSA which has offices in London. New York and Los Angeles. and represents some of the top directors in the advertising industry.

Black Dog Films was created with his son Jake in 1968 and has produced music videos for such as REM,U2 and Puff Daddy and was awarded the DEAD Pencil Award in 2000

- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5