Neil LaBute is known for his dark, emotionally-convoluted dramas. He’s written dozens of plays and screenplays, but two in particular have made a huge impact on theater and cinema alike, earning the writer two award wins and many nominations along the way. Born in Lansing, Michigan, LaBute started out as an actor before turning to writing. His most well-known works are In the Company of Men (1996) and Your Friends & Neighbors (1998). Both plays were adapted into films in 1997 and 1998 respectively, with LaBute directing both films. The Man Behind the Curtain: A Neil LaBute Biography
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Neil N. LaBute was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1959 and raised in Troy, New York. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Hobart College and a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University before embarking on his writing career.
LaBute is an American playwright, film director, screenwriter, and actor. The Man Behind the Curtain: A Neil LaBute Biography
Bio
Neil Labute was born in Newark, New Jersey on September 10, 1961. His father committed suicide when he was 16 years old. He attended Amherst College, then moved to Paris, France to study theater at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq. He returned to America where he obtained his MFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon University. In 1987 he won a Tony Award for writing The Shape of Things.
Family
Born in Joliet, Illinois to Elaine LaBute and Gerard Eugene Labutte on September 14, 1957, LaBute was raised in a Catholic family. His grandparents on his father’s side immigrated from Canada and his mother’s side immigrated from Belgium. From the age of five to fourteen, he was home-schooled. He attended St. Francis Seminary High School and became active with Joliet Catholic League Basketball for three years before graduating in 1975.
Physical info
Neil N. LaBute is an American playwright, film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best-known for a play that he wrote and later adapted for film, In the Company of Men, which won awards from the Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards.
Career
Neil LaBute has been active in the film and theater world for over 20 years. His play, In The Company of Men, which he both wrote and directed, was produced Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons Theatre before being made into a successful 1997 film. He is an accomplished actor, having starred in NBC’s Mercy Street and featured roles in such films as Frankenstein Unbound. As a director, his most recognized work was 2001’s Fat Pig.
Awards
LaBute is best-known for a play that he wrote and later adapted for film, In the Company of Men, which won awards from the Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the New York Film Critics Circle.
This script launched his career as a playwright and was translated into dozens of languages worldwide.
He has written over thirty plays, many of which have been staged internationally including some on Broadway and in London’s West End.
Net worth
Neil was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 23, 1963. He spent most of his childhood in the Colorado suburbs of Denver. At age 16, he won a scholarship to Trinity College at Hartford and soon transferred to Northwestern University where he graduated with an English degree in 1985. That same year he enrolled in graduate school at Dartmouth College’s drama department where he earned his MFA three years later. After graduation, he toured with a Shakespeare theater company for five years as both an actor and director.
first love
LaBute, born in July 1963, grew up as a child in Pontiac, Michigan. His mother abandoned his family when he was just an infant, and his father passed away when he was three years old. This led to him living with his grandparents for nearly five years of his life. When he was fourteen years old, LaBute ran away from home and lived out on the streets for two months with friends before returning home to take care of his grandparents.
first success
In 1992, Neil LaBute graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and almost immediately got an agent to work with in Hollywood. It took only six months before he received his first job offer, a seven-year gig on FOX’s Married With Children.
While Neil may have been happy as a sitcom writer in Hollywood, he was unsure if that was what he wanted out of life.
dearest person
Neil LaBute is an American playwright, film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best-known for a play that he wrote and later adapted for film, In the Company of Men, which won awards from the Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the New York Film Critics Circle. He has also won other prestigious awards including Writers Guild Awards for both films and a more recent play Right Here On The Freakin’ Ground (2015).
Early Life
Neil LaBute was born in 1959 in Niagara Falls, New York. He and his family later moved to Toledo, Ohio where he attended Maumee Valley Country Day School and wrote his first play while in high school. Growing up in Ohio made a major impact on him which influenced much of his later work. In 1981, LaBute received a BA from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut followed by an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Career in Theatre
LaBute, born November 2, 1962 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents divorced when he was eight years old and moved to Michigan. After graduating from high school, he attended the Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University and dropped out to pursue a career in acting.
Style and Techniques
LaBute’s first foray into filmmaking was as an actor in Unzipped, a 1994 documentary about fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. In 1996, he became a playwright and penned In the Company of Men, a dark comedy that satirizes gender relations, which went on to win awards from the Sundance Film Festival, Independent Spirit Awards and New York Film Critics Circle Award.
Accomplishments and Awards
He is best-known for a play that he wrote and later adapted for film, In the Company of Men, which won awards from the Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. He has also written such plays as Reasons to Be Pretty (a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize) and The Shape of Things. LaBute’s films often show people facing cruelty and loneliness in love relationships, especially touching on issues relating to miscommunication.
Wife and Children
LaBute’s first marriage was to Jean Taynton, daughter of actor Billie Whitelaw. They had a son before divorcing in 1988. He is married to Patricia Azarcoya, who has performed at his London-based production of The Shape of Things (2010).
Quotes From Neil Labute Himself
He feels that while he would have many talents in life, his truest skills are in working with people and storytelling. He lives with his wife on a farm in New York state where they grow organic vegetables and keep goats, chickens, and ducks. He travels extensively as an artist-in-residence at colleges across the U.S., Canada, Ireland, and England.
I’m not so much interested in talking about my work as I am other people’s work.
Q.&A.
Q. When and where was Neil N. LaBute born?
A. January 25, 1962 in Kankakee, Illinois Q. Where did he grow up?
A. He grew up in Burr Ridge, Illinois and graduated from Westmont College with a degree in theater arts
How old is Neil LaBute?
Neil N. LaBute is an American playwright, film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best-known for a play that he wrote and later adapted for film, In the Company of Men, which won awards from the Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the New York Film Critics Circle. He has a BFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University in 1984.
Where is Neil LaBute from?
Neil LaBute was born in Detroit, Michigan on March 11, 1962. His father was a dentist and his mother was a homemaker and he has one brother, who is three years younger than him. In 1986, he graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in communication and theater. He spent some time in New York before moving to Chicago where he also worked as an actor.
LaBute began writing plays and screenplays with his best known play In The Company of Men.
How do you fight loneliness LaBute?
LaBute has commented that he does not experience loneliness and that if anything he is a loneliness commando. To fend off this emotion, LaBute says he invites strangers to his home and tells them personal information in an effort to create emotional ties with people. If you want to avoid loneliness, creating meaningful connections with other people is important.
Who directed in the company of men?
In 1996, while he was in graduate school at Columbia University, Neil LaBute wrote and directed a play called In the Company of Men. It went on to win awards from The Sundance Film Festival, The Independent Spirit Awards, and even New York.
The story focuses on two white-collar workers who go on a road trip together.