Woody Allen

伍迪·艾伦，美国电影导演、戏剧和电影剧作家，电影演员、爵士乐单簧管演奏家。生于纽约布鲁克林一个穷苦的犹太人家庭。原名艾伦·斯图尔特·康尼格斯伯格。高中时代就为广播电台写笑话，为电视台写娱乐节目，后在纽约大学求学。
1961年，艾伦在纽约格林威治村的咖啡厅表演自己编排的节目，深受欢迎。他的第一个电影剧本是1965年的《新的猫咪是什么？》，他本人参加了演出。这部剧嘲弄了上流社会的男女们，以偷情排遣他们生活的无聊。1969年他自编自导自演了影片《命了钱就跑》，揶揄了三十年代强盗片中的英雄，颇受学生的欢迎。1971年他自己编导并主演的《香蕉》，是一部讽刺政客行径的喜剧片。《想知道性又不敢问》(1972，即《性欲奇谭》)，是以学生感兴趣的问题为题材，全片由七个性问题组成。1973年的《沉睡的人》(即《傻瓜大闹科学城》)也是他自编自导自演的，影片表现现代人对未来的科学不知所措，讽刺机械破坏了文明。1975年的《爱情与死亡》，讽刺了知识界熟悉而关心的事物，获得了西柏林电影节的特别奖。1977年，他自编自导自演的《安尼·霍尔》，这部影片是他的最佳作品，获奥斯卡最佳导演、最佳影片、最佳女主角、最佳编剧四项金像奖，并获该年度英国电影与电视艺术学院四项大奖。1979年拍摄的《曼哈顿》，描写纽约这个大都市的人与人之间的关系(主要是两性之间的关系)，表露了城市人精神生活的空虚孤独人而产生缺乏安全感的现象，获得纽约电影评论最佳导演奖和第三十三届英国电影与电视艺术学院最佳影片奖。
伍迪·艾伦写作的主题不外死亡、性和不道德行为，他善于吸取无声片喜剧的优点，配合自己一套带有浓厚地方色彩的机智对白，尤其是纽约知识分子式的机智。其讽刺对象上至政治、文化、宗教、性，下至电影、电视、犹太人习俗等等，如果不懂得、不理解影片中的人物和环境，他的那种“内行人笑话”的幽默感，将无法理解，所以他的作品很受美国本国观众（特别是知识分子）的欢迎，在非英语国家则有所隔阂。挑剔的法国人称他为“美国电影界惟一的知识分子”。
伍迪·艾伦基本上每年都有一部新片推出，产量稳定的同时也能坚持自己的特点，这也是他的影迷们一直支持他的原因所在。他的其他知名作品包括1992年的《贤伉俪》，1993年的《曼哈顿神秘谋杀》，1995年的《无敌爱美神》，1996年的《人人都说我爱你》，1999年的《甜蜜与卑微》，2000年的《暴发户》，2002年的《好莱坞式结局》等。2005年，他转变风格，导演了惊悚题材的《赛末点》，好评如潮，2006年他与斯嘉丽·约翰逊再次合作了《独家新闻》。
Before he emerged as one of the foremost American filmmakers of the 20th century, Woody Allen was a stand-up comic. Although his tenure as a performing comedian was relatively short-lived, its importance to the development of his later work was pivotal; on stage and on record, Allen honed to perfection the uniquely neurotic and uniquely New York sensibility which became the hallmarks of his career as an actor, writer and director, firmly establishing the self-deprecating, awkward persona which long defined him in the eyes of the moviegoing public.
Woody Allen was born Allen Stewart Konigsberg in Brooklyn, New York on December 1, 1935. After adopting his stage name at the age of 17, in 1953 he enrolled in New York University's film program, quickly failing the course "Motion Picture Production" and dropping out of school to begin writing for comedian David Alber for the sum of $20 a week. Two years later, Allen graduated to writing for television, working on the staff of the legendary Your Show of Shows as well as penning material for Pat Boone.
During his five-year tenure in television, his efforts won him an Emmy nomination, but like Mel Brooks, Allen found a career as a writer stifling, and eventually decided to try his hand as a performer. He made his professional debut in 1960 at the Blue Angel club in Manhattan; success came slowly, and the first major published review of his act did not appear until two years later. However, his comic worldview was different and fresh, and his talents soon caught the eye of television booking agents; beginning in 1963, Allen became a frequent talk show guest, and by the following year he recorded his self-titled debut LP, a litany of regrets about his marriage, collegiate years and stint playing Little League.
Woody Allen Volume 2, a collection of ambitious comic tales, followed in 1965, although by this point Allen was already losing interest in the stand-up form; that same year, he made his film debut in the comedy What's New, Pussycat?, which he also wrote. For all intents and purposes, his career as a stage comedian -- a period he later admitted was wracked with fear and self-doubt -- ended with the release of 1968's Woody Allen Three; a year later, the success of the feature Take the Money and Run (which he wrote, directed, and starred in) guaranteed him a future as a filmmaker. By 1977's Academy Award-winning Annie Hall, Allen stood as one of the truly monumental talents of his time, a position solidified by later masterpieces including 1979's Manhattan, 1986's Hannah and Her Sisters and 1989's Crimes and Misdemeanors. His longtime interest in playing jazz was the subject of the 1998 documentary Wild Man Blues as well as its accompanying soundtrack.