Paul Thomas Anderson is an American filmmaker and screenwriter who has been making films since the early 1990s. He is best known for his critically acclaimed films such as Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Phantom Thread.
Anderson was born in 1970 in Studio City, California. His father was a writer and director of television commercials while his mother was an actress. Anderson attended Emerson College in Boston where he studied film and video production. After graduating in 1992, he moved back to Los Angeles to pursue a career in filmmaking.
Anderson's first feature film was Hard Eight (1996), which he wrote and directed. The film received positive reviews from critics and established Anderson as a promising young filmmaker. His next film Boogie Nights (1997) earned him even more critical acclaim and earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
In 1999, Anderson released Magnolia which earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay as well as a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director. In 2002, he released Punch-Drunk Love which starred Adam Sandler and earned him yet another Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
In 2007, Anderson released There Will Be Blood which starred Daniel Day-Lewis and earned him his first Academy Award win for Best Director as well as nominations for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2012, he released The Master which starred Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix and earned him yet another Academy Award nomination for Best Director. In 2017, he released Phantom Thread which starred Daniel Day-Lewis once again and earned him his second Academy Award nomination for Best Director as well as nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Score.
Throughout his career Paul Thomas Anderson has become one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of all time with numerous awards including two Oscar nominations for Best Director, four Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay, two Golden Globe nominations for Best Director, three BAFTA nominations for Best Film Not in the English Language, one BAFTA nomination for Outstanding British Film of the Year, one Directors Guild of America award win for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film among many others.