TATE TAYLOR is an American filmmaker and actor born today. A frequent collaborator with his friends and prolific character actresses Allison Janney and Octavia Spencer, Taylor is best known for directing The Help, Get on Up, and The Girl on the Train.

Taylor worked for 15 years in New York City and Los Angeles. Though he debuted as a feature film director in Pretty Ugly People, he was primarily an actor for most of his career, in films such as Romy and Michele’s High School Reunionand Winter’s Bone, and on television in series such as Charmed, Six Feet Under, and The Drew Carey Show.

Taylor achieved mainstream success when he directed the film The Help, based on Stockett’s novel of the same title. Stockett gave him rights to make the film adaptation in June 2008, before the book was published. In addition to receiving generally positive reviews, the film was a major commercial success, earning more than $200 million worldwide, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Tate Taylor has been nominated for and received industry awards including the 2013 Vail Film Festival Vanguard Award, the 2012 BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, the 2012 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the 2012 Critic’s Choice Movie Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, the 2012 NAACP Award nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture and for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture, and the 2011 Chicago Film Critics Association nomination. 

Taylor next directed the James Brown biopic Get On Up (2014), which starred Chadwick Boseman. Though the film was a critical success, it commercially underperformed. His next project The Girl on the Train, an adaption of the book by Paula Hawkins, was released to mixed reviews from critics, but was a box office success. Taylor is out gay and is in relationship with producer John Norris. He resides on the Wyolah Plantation, an Antebellum plantation in Church Hill, Mississippi.