Robert Doyle Marshall Jr.http://www.alumni.cmu.edu/s/1410/images/editor_documents/alumnirelations/getinvolved/alumniawards/all_honorees_2018june1.pdf (born October 17, 1960) is an American film and theater director, producer, and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...

. He is best known for directing the film version of the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

musical ''

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

'', which is itself based on the play of the same name by playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins. His work on the film earned him the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film, as well as nominations for the

Academy Award for Best Director The Academy Award for Best Director (officially known as the Academy Award of Merit for Directing) is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of a film director who has exhibi ...

, the

Golden Globe Award for Best Director The Golden Globe Award for Best Director – Motion Picture is a Golden Globe Award that has been presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization composed of journalists who cover the United States film industry fo ...

, and the

BAFTA Award for Best Direction The BAFTA Award for Best Direction, formerly known as David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction, is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to a film director for a specifi ...

Early life and education

Robert Doyle Marshall Jr. was born in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th ...

. His father and namesake, Robert Doyle Marshall Sr., was a Ph.D. student at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

, and his mother Anne was a teacher. Like him, his younger sister Kathleen became a choreographer and director. In 1964, Robert Marshall joined the English department at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

, and the Marshall family relocated to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. Anne would later work for Pittsburgh Public Schools and the

University of Pittsburgh School of Education The University of Pittsburgh School of Education consists of five academic departments: Administrative and Policy Studies, Health and Physical Activity, Instruction and Learning, Learning Sciences & Policy, and Psychology in Education. The school ...

, and Robert would become associate professor of English and dean of the

College of Arts and Sciences A College of Arts and Sciences or School of Arts and Sciences is most commonly an individual institution or a unit within a university that focuses on instruction of the liberal arts and pure sciences, although they frequently include programs an ...

at the same university. Rob Marshall graduated from the

Falk School The Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School, or simply the Falk School, is a private kindergarten through eighth grade laboratory school of the University of Pittsburgh. It is located on the University of Pittsburgh's upper campus on Allequippa St. C ...

, and then in 1978 from

Taylor Allderdice High School Taylor Allderdice High School is a public high school in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It opened in 1927 and is part of the Pittsburgh Public Schools district. It was named for industrialist and S ...

, into whose alumni hall of fame he later was inducted. Graduating from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

in 1982, Marshall worked in the Pittsburgh theatre scene, performing with such companies as

Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (Pittsburgh CLO) is a nonprofit professional theater company based in the Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Despite its name, the organization presents musical theatre classics rather ...

Career

Marshall went on to perform as a dancer in various Broadway shows, but suffered a herniated disc while performing in ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members o ...

'' and after recovering, transitioned into choreography and then directing. He debuted in the film industry with the TV adaptation of the musical '' Annie'' by

Charles Strouse Charles Strouse (born June 7, 1928) is an American composer and lyricist best known for writing the music to such Broadway musicals as '' Bye Bye Birdie'', ''Applause'', and '' Annie''. Life and career Strouse was born in New York City, to Jewis ...

and Martin Charnin. He went on to direct the 2002

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

of the

Kander and Ebb Kander and Ebb were a highly successful American songwriting team consisting of composer John Kander (born March 18, 1927) and lyricist Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004). Known primarily for their stage musicals, which include ' ...

musical ''

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

'', for which he was nominated for an

. His next feature film was the drama ''

Memoirs of a Geisha ''Memoirs of a Geisha'' is a historical fiction novel by American author Arthur Golden, published in 1997. The novel, told in first person perspective, tells the story of Nitta Sayuri and the many trials she faces on the path to becoming and w ...

'' based on the best-selling book of the same name by

Arthur Golden Arthur Sulzberger Golden (born December 6, 1956) is an American writer. He is the author of the bestselling novel ''Memoirs of a Geisha'' (1997). Early life Golden was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the son of Ruth (née Sulzberger) and Ben ...

starring Zhang Ziyi,

Gong Li Gong Li (Chinese: 巩俐; born 31 December 1965) is a Chinese actress. She starred in three of the four Chinese-language films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Gong was born in Shenyang, Liaonin ...

Michelle Yeoh Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng, ( ; born 6 August 1962) is a Malaysian actress. Credited as Michelle Khan in her early Hong Kong films, she rose to fame in the 1990s after starring in a series of Hong Kong action films where she performed her own ...

and

Ken Watanabe is a Japanese actor. To English-speaking audiences, he is known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in ''Letters from Iwo Jima'' and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in '' The Last Samurai'', for which he was nom ...

. The film went on to win three

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

and gross $162.2 million at the worldwide box office. Marshall went on to direct the 2009 film '' Nine'', an adaptation of the Broadway production with the same name starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard,

Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an American and Australian actress and producer. Known for her work across various film and television productions from several genres, she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid act ...

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...

and

Penélope Cruz Penélope Cruz Sánchez (; ; born 28 April 1974) is a Spanish actress. Known for her roles in films of several genres, particularly those in the Spanish language, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British ...

, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. On August 2009, it was reported that Marshall was to direct '' Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides'', the fourth chapter of Disney's ''

Pirates of the Caribbean ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' is a Disney media franchise encompassing numerous theme park rides, a series of films, and spin-off novels, as well as a number of related video games and other media publications. The franchise originated with the ...

'' film series starring

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Awa ...

, Penélope Cruz,

Ian McShane Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor, producer and director. He is known for his television performances, particularly as the title role in the BBC series ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in '' Deadwood'' (20 ...

and

Geoffrey Rush Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. He is known for his eccentric leading man roles on stage and screen. He is among 24 people who have won the Triple Crown of Acting, having received an Academy Award, a Primetime Emm ...

, which opened on May 20, 2011 and grossed $1 billion worldwide. After working with Disney on ''Pirates'', Marshall directed Disney's

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with sho ...

's ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...

'' (2014), and produced the film under his Lucamar Productions banner. His next film was the sequel to the 1964 film ''

Mary Poppins It may refer to: * ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fantasy novels that introduced the character. * Mary Poppins (character), the nanny with magical powers. * ''Mary Poppins'' (film), a 1964 Disney film star ...

'', titled ''

Mary Poppins Returns ''Mary Poppins Returns'' is a 2018 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, with a screenplay written by David Magee and a story by Magee, Marshall, and John DeLuca. Loosely based on the book series ''Mary Poppins'' by P. L. Tr ...

'', reuniting two ''Into the Woods'' actresses: Emily Blunt as the title character and

Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...

in a supporting role. By December 2017, Disney was considering Marshall to direct the live-action/CGI adaptation of '' The Little Mermaid'', in which he was officially confirmed to direct in December 2018.

Personal life

As of at least 2007, Marshall lives in New York City with his partner, producer John DeLuca. In 2004, they bought a $4.2 million summer home in

Sagaponack, New York Sagaponack is a village in the Town of Southampton in Suffolk County, on the East End of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population of the village was 313 at the 2010 census. Sagaponack is also the name of a popular seafood re ...

, part of

The Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End of Long Island, consist of the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, which together comprise the South Fork of Long Island, in Suffolk County, New York. The Hamptons are a popular seaside resort and one o ...

Filmography

Film

Television

TV movies

Awards and nominations

List of

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

nominations

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Rob 1960 births American theatre directors Artists from Madison, Wisconsin Artists from Pittsburgh Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni CAS Filmmaker Award honorees Directors Guild of America Award winners Fantasy film directors Film directors from Pennsylvania Film directors from Wisconsin Gay men Helpmann Award winners LGBT people from Wisconsin LGBT theatre directors Living people People from Sagaponack, New York Primetime Emmy Award winners Taylor Allderdice High School alumni