Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of
Martin Konigsberg and
Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister,
Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.
Allen broke into show business at 15 years when he started writing jokes for a local paper, receiving $200 a week. He later moved on to write jokes for talk shows but felt that his jokes were being wasted. His agents, Charles Joffe and Jack Rollins, convinced him to start doing stand-up and telling his own jokes. Reluctantly he agreed and, although he initially performed with such fear of the audience that he would cover his ears when they applauded his jokes, he eventually became very successful at stand-up. After performing on stage for a few years, he was approached to write a script for
Warren Beatty to star in:
What's New Pussycat (1965) and would also have a moderate role as a character in the film. During production, Woody gave himself more and better lines and left Beatty with less compelling dialogue. Beatty inevitably quit the project and was replaced by
Peter Sellers, who demanded all the best lines and more screen-time.
It was from this experience that Woody realized that he could not work on a film without complete control over its production. Woody's
theoretical directorial debut was in
What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966); a Japanese spy flick that he dubbed over with his own comedic dialogue about spies searching for the secret recipe for egg salad. His real directorial debut came the next year in the mockumentary
Take the Money and Run (1969). He has written, directed and, more often than not, starred in about a film a year ever since, while simultaneously writing more than a dozen plays and several books of comedy.
While best known for his romantic comedies
Annie Hall (1977) and
Manhattan (1979), Woody has made many
transitions in his films throughout the years, transitioning from his "early, funny ones" of
Bananas (1971),
Love and Death (1975) and
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972); to his more storied and romantic comedies of
Annie Hall (1977),
Manhattan (1979) and
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); to the Bergmanesque films of
Stardust Memories (1980) and
Interiors (1978); and then on to the more recent, but varied works of
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989),
Husbands and Wives (1992),
Mighty Aphrodite (1995),
Celebrity (1998) and
Deconstructing Harry (1997); and finally to his films of the last decade, which vary from the light comedy of
Scoop (2006), to the self-destructive darkness of
Match Point (2005) and, most recently, to the cinematically beautiful tale of
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). Although his stories and style have changed over the years, he is regarded as one of the best filmmakers of our time because of his views on art and his mastery of filmmaking.