Steve McQueen

Let’s all admit it—there is just a level where you have to say “not that Steve McQueen, the other one.” And I have seen more movies from Steve McQueen the actor than Steve McQueen the director. Two of them in the theatre, even, admittedly easier because the director is still alive and the actor is not. The director has won an Oscar, admittedly as a producer, but boy was that a stacked year in the Best Director category. At least he didn’t lose to Jean-Marc Vallée, who wasn’t even nominated in the category.

His birth name is actually Steve, which is one way around the Steven/Stephen dilemma. He was put into classes for children of whom not much was expected as a child; the later headmaster of the school said this was because of institutional racism, which is likely true. Though also young McQueen was dyslexic and had an eyepatch because of a lazy eye, which didn’t help matters. He took an A-level in art and went to Chelsea College of Arts and then Goldsmiths College, University of London, and did a semester at the Tisch School of the Arts.

It was in art school that McQueen got started in film. Initially, he made short films, often appearing in them himself, that were influenced by Andy Warhol’s works. He also worked in photography and sculpture. In 1999, he won the Turner Prize for a short film apparently inspired by the works of Buster Keaton. As with many of McQueen’s early films, it’s not accessible for viewing, but apparently McQueen recreates a stunt from Steamboat Bill, Jr.

In 2008, he made his first feature film, Hunger, about the death of IRA bomber and MP Bobby Sands and the events of the 1981 prison hunger strike. It brought considerable attention to McQueen’s directing ability. In 2011, he directed Shame, a disturbing portrayal of sexual addiction. In 2013, 12 Years a Slave, based on the autobiography of Solomon Northup, a free black man kidnapped in 1841 and sold into slavery in Louisiana. It won Best Picture, and if there were any justice it would’ve won Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, too. It also launched the career of Best Supporting Actress winner Lupita Nyong’o.

McQueen would continue creating both art installation films and more conventional features. He directed the streaming series Small Axe. He continued to make films about the black experience in Britain and about failures of the British government. McQueen directs powerful films with a social conscience. He also goes out of his way to make sure he’s not the only black person working behind the camera, because the only way for black people to have opportunities in the film industry is if people help them break into the Old Boys’ Network.