Samuel Alexander Mendes was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England, UK to parents James Peter Mendes, a retired university lecturer, and Valerie Helene Mendes, an author who writes children's books. Their marriage didn't last long, James divorced Sam's mother in 1970 when Sam was just 5 years-old. Sam was educated at Cambridge University and joined the Chichester Festival Theatre following his graduation in 1987. Afterwards he directed Judi Dench in The Cherry Orchard, for which he won a Critics Circle Award for Best Newcomer. He then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he directed such productions as Troilus and Cressida with Ralph Fiennes and Richard III. In 1992, he became artistic director of the reopened Donmar Warehouse in London, where he directed such productions as 'The Glass Menagerie' and the revival of the musical 'Cabaret', which earned four Tony Awards including one for Best Revival of a Musical. He also directed 'The Blue Room', starring Nicole Kidman. In 1999 he got the chance to direct his first feature film, American Beauty. The movie earned 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Mendes, which is a rare feat for a first time film director.


Road to Perdition (2002): $1,200,000
American Beauty (1999): $150,000

Dated Jane Horrocks. [1992 - 1995] Educated at Cambridge University in Cambridge, England, UK. Dated Rachel Weisz. [2001] Taught cricket (his passion) at Summer Fields School, Oxford, UK after leaving school for a year. Sam married English actress Kate Winslet in the West Indies in May 2003. Son, Joe Alfie Winslet Mendes, was born on December 22, 2003, in New York, and weighed 7 pounds and 13 ounces. He was nominated for Best Director at the 1999 Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards for the 1998 production of "The Blue Room". He was awarded the 2003 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award: Special for his services and contributions as Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse for the past ten years. He was awarded the 2002 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama) for Best Director for both "Uncle Vanya" and "Twelfth Night" performed at the Donmar Warehouse. He was awarded the 1989 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre Award) for Most Promising Newcomer as Director of Minerva Studio in Chichester, England. Has a home in Cotswolds, England. Was nominated for Broadway's 1998 Tony Award as Best Director (Musical), along with collaborator Rob Marshall, for a revival of "Cabaret." In 2000, he won his first Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for his production of "The Real Thing". Stepfather of Kate Winslet's daughter Mia Ranked #15 in the 2008 Telegraph's list "the 100 most powerful people in British culture". His father is Trinidadian. To date (2009), all of the leading actresses in his films are in relationships with film directors: American Beauty (1999)'s Annette Bening (Warren Beatty), Road to Perdition (2002)'s Jennifer Jason Leigh (Noah Baumbach), Away We Go (2009)'s Maya Rudolph (Paul Thomas Anderson), and his own wife, Kate Winslet, in Revolutionary Road (2008). The only exception is Jarhead (2005), in which the leading actors are all male. Son-in-law of Roger Winslet.