William Condon (born October 22, 1955) is an American director and screenwriter. Condon is known for writing and/or directing numerous successful and acclaimed films includingGods and Monsters,Chicago,Kinsey,Dreamgirls,The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1,The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, andBeauty and the Beast.^[1] He has received two nominations for theAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay,Gods and Monsters andChicago, winning for the former.

Bill Condon
Condon at the2025 Sundance Film Festival.
Born	William Condon (1955-10-22)October 22, 1955 (age 69) New York City,New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Film director, screenwriter
Years active	1981–present
Notable work	Gods and Monsters Chicago Kinsey Dreamgirls The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 Beauty and the Beast[1]
Partner	Jack Morrissey
Awards	Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Gods and Monsters (1998)

Condon was born inNew York City on October 22, 1955,^[2] the son of a policedetective,^[3] and was raised in anIrish Catholic family.^[4][5] He attendedRegis High School andColumbia College of Columbia University, graduating in 1976 with a degree in philosophy.^[4]

Two films had a significant impact of Condon's early life. At the age of twelve, he found himself drawn to screenplay writing with his first viewing ofBonnie and Clyde.^[6] In college he sawSweet Charity (1969), which led to "a lifelong love affair with movies that are reviled and rejected in their time."^[4]

After completing college, Condon worked as a journalist for film magazines, includingAmerican Film andMillimeter. In 1981, he won "the world's most difficult film trivia quiz" sponsored byThe Village Voice.^[7]

His career as a filmmaker began with screenplays for theindependent featureStrange Behavior (1981), an homage to the pulp horror films of the 1950s,^[8] and thescience-fiction featureStrange Invaders (1983), which starredNancy Allen andWallace Shawn.^[9]

His directorial debut wasSister, Sister (1987), an eerieSouthern Gothic mystery starringEric Stoltz andJennifer Jason Leigh. Test screenings led to major changes to the film, which still proved a critical failure that set back Condon's career.^[10]

Condon emerged a few years later directing a series of made-for-TV thrillers, includingMurder 101 (1991), which earned Condon and co-writer Roy Johansen a 1992Edgar Award for their screenplay.^[11] During this period he also wrote the screenplay for the thrillerF/X2 (1991), which was directed by Australian directorRichard Franklin.^[12]

In 1994, he directed the television movieThe Man Who Wouldn't Die, which was met with mixed reviews.^[13] He directedCandyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995), a sequel toBernard Rose's 1992 horror film. It was a critical and commercial failure.^[14] Reminded years later of this phase of his career, Condon said: "It's hard to be lower on the totem pole than being the director for a sequel to a horror movie."^[4]

Condon wrote and directedGods and Monsters (1998), which was based on a novel byChristopher Bram. His screenplay won theAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.The New York Times said Condon "may have been the most stunned person at the Academy Awards when his name was announced as the winner for the best adapted screenplay. He has struggled for years in Hollywood as a screenwriter and journalist and is unaccustomed to the hoopla that is now around him."^[15] He was nominated for the same award for his screenplay forChicago, based on the Broadway musical of thesame name.^[16] He received a second Edgar Award for hisChicago screenplay as well.^[17]

In 2004 he wrote and directed the filmKinsey, chronicling the life of the controversial sex researcherAlfred Kinsey. InThe New York Times,A.O. Scott wrote that "Bill Condon's smart, stirring [film] has a lot to say on the subject of sex, which it treats with sobriety, sensitivity and a welcome measure of humor." He continued: "I can't think of another movie that has dealt with sex so knowledgeably and, at the same time, made the pursuit of knowledge seem so sexy. There are some explicit images and provocative scenes, but it is your intellect that is most likely to be aroused.... Mr. Condon's great achievement is to turn Kinsey's complicated and controversial career into a grand intellectual drama."^[18]

In 2005, he received theStephen F. Kolzak Award at theGLAAD Media Awards.^[19]

Condon wrote the screenplay for and directedDreamgirls, an adaptation of the acclaimed Broadway musical of thesame name. It was released in December 2006. Condon receivedDirectors Guild of America andBroadcast Film Critics Association nominations for directing. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards in six categories.^[20]

Condon was executive producer of the81st Academy Awards television broadcast that aired on February 22, 2009, working with producerLaurence Mark.^[21]

Condon directed both parts ofThe Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (2011 and 2012), adapted from the fourth and final novel inThe Twilight Saga byStephenie Meyer. He was twice nominated for aRazzie for Worst Director for these films, winning forPart 2.^[22]

Condon directedThe Fifth Estate (2013), a thriller aboutWikiLeaks starringBenedict Cumberbatch. He said he chose the project for a change of pace and liked its non-ideological approach to a very complex subject. He saw it "in the great tradition of journalistic thrillers".^[23] It received mixed responses from critics and underperformed at the box office.^[24]

In late 2013, he directed a revised version of the 1997 stage musicalSide Show at theLa Jolla Playhouse. A production of this revision played in June and July 2014 at theKennedy Center.Charles Isherwood described it inThe New York Times as "a full-scale reimagining" of the musical that involved "the addition and subtraction of several songs ..., the reordering of others", and new dialogue contributed by Condon.^[25] That production received excellent reviews when it moved to Broadway in the fall, but it proved a failure at the box office and closed after just seven weeks.^[26]

In 2015, Condon directedMr. Holmes starringIan McKellen. Condon noted its similarity toGods and Monsters, not only because of its lead actor but because "[b]oth movies are about aging and mortality. You have a celebrated man facing the decline of his public image."^[27]

Condon directed the 2017Disney'slive action film adaptation,based on the animated 1991 filmBeauty and the Beast, starringEmma Watson andDan Stevens.^[1] A few weeks before the film's scheduled release on March 17, 2017, Condon announced that one character, LeFou, has "a nice, exclusively gay moment", which resulted in an "internet meltdown" of contrasting support and condemnation.^[28]

He co-authored the screenplay forThe Greatest Showman, a biography ofP.T. Barnum, starringHugh Jackman and released in December 2017. He rewrote the draft of co-authorJenny Bicks.^[29]

In October 2017, Condon postponed pre-production of a remake ofBride of Frankenstein forUniversal Pictures.Deadline Hollywood reported that Condon andDavid Koepp wanted to rework the script.^[30]

Condon is a member of the Independent Feature Projects (IFP) in Los Angeles, a non-profit organization which supports independent films, as well as the Independent Writers Steering Committee, which was initiated by the Writers Guild of America (WGA).

In July 2021, Condon signed on to direct aGuys and Dolls movie adaptation byTriStar Pictures but left the project in 2023 and was replaced byChicago directorRob Marshall.^[31] That same year, he co-produced thelive stage filming of the Broadway production ofCome from Away, which was released to streaming onApple TV+.^[32]

In December 2023, it was announced that Condon would write and direct afilm adaptation of themusical version ofKiss of the Spider Woman, withJennifer Lopez attached to star and co-executive produce.^[33]

Condon isgay.^[34] He is in a long-term relationship with Jack Morrissey.^[35][36]

TV movies

TV series

• List of LGBTQ Academy Award winners and nominees
• Dramatic license
• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of LGBT people from New York City

• Bill Condon atIMDb
• Works by Bill Condon atOpen Library