BIO

Ridley Scott was born in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England, in 1937.   His father was an officer in the British army and the family moved frequently.   His younger brother was the film director/producer Tony Scott (1944-2012).

Scott graduated from college with a degree in design before pursuing his post-graduate studies at the Royal College of Art in London.   It was here he became interested in film production.

The BBC hired him as a trainee and Scott began his television career as a set designer in 1962 at the age of 25.   By 1965, he was directing television episodes but started to recognize more lucrative opportunities as a producer of television commercials.

He formed RSA (Ridley Scott Associates) in 1967 and his younger brother joined him a couple of years later.   Over the next decade, they produced thousands of commercials for the British market.   Notably, Scott directed the game-changing commercial that launched Apple’s Macintosh computer and aired during Super Bowl XVIII in 1984.

Scott was hired for his feature film directorial debut by the producer David Puttnam (1941- ).   The Duellists (1977), released to international critical acclaim, also received two BAFTA Award nominations.   He followed this up with the sci-fi classics Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982).

However, it was not until the release of Thelma & Louise (1991), a film Scott both produced and directed, that he received his first Academy Award nomination for Directing.   He has been nominated twice more for Gladiator (2000) and Black Hawk Down (2002).

Ridley and Tony Scott began producing for television in 1997 and have twice received Primetime Emmy Awards for The Gathering Storm (2002) and Gettysburg (2011).

Scott married Felicity Haywood in 1964 and the couple raised two children, the directors Jake Scott (1965- ) and Luke Scott (1968-).   They divorced in 1975.

His second marriage, in 1979, to the advertising executive and television producer Sandy Watson also produced a child, the writer/director Jordan Scott (1977- ).   The couple divorced in 1989.

Additional biographical information is available at:

NOTED FILMS