Paul Schrader's biography

Paul Joseph Schrader is 76 years old screenwriter born at Grand Rapids. Paul was born on Monday 22nd of July 1946. Paul is often nicknamed as Paul Schrader, Paul Joseph Schrader. According to year of birth 1946 he belongs to Silent Generation. Birthday on 22nd of July means he is Cancer. Cancer is a watery sign. They are very friendly and show motherly love to everyone. According to ascendant calculator, an important trait of these natives is their sensitive nature.

Paul is white american. Paul is citizen of United States of America. Paul is an adherent of calvinism. Paul´s primary profession is to be screenwriter. You can know him also as film director. Paul is recently known as film critic.

Paul Schrader's family

Paul Schrader's wife

She is known as film actor. His wife was born on Thursday 26th of September 1946 in Marshalltown.

Paul Schrader's ex wife

Paul Schrader's schools

We found 4 schools He attended. Complete list of schools: University of California, Los Angeles, Calvin University, AFI Conservatory, Grand Rapids Christian High School.

Detailed informations about his schools

He studied university - B.A. from Calvin College, M.A. in Film Studies from the UCLA Film School.

Paul Schrader's career

Paul´s main focus is to be screenwriter. Paul is famous thanks to Taxi Driver (1976). He is also a member of Writers Guild of America West.

Is Paul Schrader gay ?

Paul is known to be straight.

Awards and competitions

Paul Schrader's Awards

Directed two Academy Award nominated performances: James Coburn and Nick Nolte, who both starred in Affliction (1997). Coburn won the Academy Award for 'Best Supporting Actor'.

What else you don't know about Paul Schrader ?

His middle name is Joseph.

What Paul Schrader has done for a first time

Being raised on Calvinist principles and severe parentage, he saw his first movie, The Absent Minded Professor (1961), at age 17.

Paul Schrader's quotes

What fascinates me are people who want to be one thing but who behave in a way contradictory to that. Who might say, "I want to be happy, but I keep doing things that make me unhappy".
We believed in a very real hell and very real evil. My mother took my hand once and stabbed me with a needle. She said, "You know how that felt, when the needle hit your thumb? Well, hell is like that... all the time!".
If you have made a film that has been shelved or discarded, nobody - not your wife or best friend - will ever believe it is any good, because they [Hollywood studios] don't discard $35 mill. investments.
Every time you think the studios have fucked you every way they can, they come up with a new way.
I killed more screen characters in the first four films I wrote than I have since. I realized I had to stop writing violence.
[how he and his brother Leonard Schrader used storytelling as one of the few amusements allowed in their strict Calvinist home] We came from a background of storytellers and we were very good at that.
Other college kids had to vandalize government buildings. All we had to do to rebel was go to movies.
When screenwriting, be prepared to drop your pants and show your dirty laundry. If you can't do that, better find yourself something more polite.
As screenwriters, we struggle with our own success. We have wallpapered our world and now we can't get anyone to notice the picture we just hung.
I wrote Taxi Driver (1976) as personal therapy, not as a commercial project.
[on the technical advances in cinema] We are now in a crisis of technology - we don't know quite what a movie is. We are re-wiring our brains so we can live with the machines we've made.
[on Blue Collar (1978)] People who act against their own best interests are interesting characters.
[on Stanley Kubrick] Every time out of the box he had a different dance.
[on Robert De Niro's Oscar for Raging Bull (1980)] Dieting is not acting, but DeNiro was the first one to do that kind of thing. It would have been a gimmick if he wasn't so good. But I think it's the gimmick that won him the award.
In this business, you've got to have a selective memory. Otherwise, it's too painful.
If you could photograph the unwanted urine which dribbles from an old man's penis you would have a film titled Song to Song (2017). [May 2017]
It doesn't really matter what I do, the first line of my obituary will be 'the writer of Taxi Driver (1976)'. [Nov.2016]
The good thing about working with Nic [Nicolas Cage] is that he gets your film financed. The bad thing is that he eats your budget alive. [Nov.2016]
One of the problems we have now because of social media and the internet is that everybody is a critic, everybody is a film reviewer. And the other half of it is that none of them can make any money. [Nov.2016]
I've been fortunate over my career to be involved in some important and prestigious films. Dog Eat Dog (2016) is not one of them. [Nov.2016]
[on The Canyons (2013) and crowdfunding] The film made money and we made money, but I'd never do it again. It's much more work than normal financing. [Nov.2016]
[on First Reformed (2017)] It's a kind of reworking of [Ingmar Bergman's] Winter Light (1963), a little bit of [Robert Bresson's] Diary of a Country Priest (1951). And a little bit of Tarkovsky [Andrei Tarkovsky]. [Nov.2017]
I've started going back to church. I find it's a comfort. I'm not a big believer but I like the... idea of a Sunday morning ritual. [Nov.2017]
[on his early days in Los Angeles] I look back on the late 60s and I missed a lot of sex and a lot of drugs and a lot of good times because all I cared about was going to the movies and catching up. [Nov.2016]
[on shooting First Reformed (2017) with digital cameras] A few years ago you saw the economics change and the cost of filmmaking dropping enormously. (...) You get more raw footage in 20 days than you used to get in 50. You never stop shooting. [2018]
I was raised Dutch Calvinist, which means you are born into a sea of guilt and then you get guiltier.

Paul Schrader's height, body shape, eye color

Lets describe how Paul Schrader looks. We will focus on his height, body shape, eye color and hair color. Paul is tall as 5' 8" (173 cm). Body build is average. His eyes are tinted blue. Paul´s hair is shade of grey.

Paul Schrader