Richard Linklater

Producer, Director, Writer

Birthdate: Jul 30, 1960

Birthplace: Houston, Texas, USA

Self-taught writer-director Richard Stuart Linklater was born in Houston, Texas, to Diane Margaret (Krieger), who taught at a university, and Charles W. Linklater III. Richard was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. Typically setting each of his movies during one 24-hour period, Linklater's work explored what he dubbed "the youth rebellion continuum," focusing in fine detail on generational rites and mores with rare compassion and understanding while definitively capturing the 20-something culture of his era through a series of nuanced, illuminating ensemble pieces which introduced any number of talented young actors into the Hollywood firmament. Born in Houston, Texas, Linklater suspended his educational career at Sam Houston State University in 1982, to work on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. He subsequently relocated to the state's capital of Austin, where he founded a film society and began work on his debut film, 1987's It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988). Three years later he released the sprawling Slacker (1990), an insightful, virtually plotless look at 1990s youth culture that became a favorite on the festival circuit prior to earning vast acclaim at Sundance in 1991. Upon its commercial release, the movie, made for less than $23,000, became the subject of considerable mainstream media attention, with the term "slacker" becoming a much-overused catch-all tag employed to affix a name and identity to America's disaffected youth culture.

Known For

Waking Life
Waking Life

(2001)

Slacker
Slacker

(1990)

Boyhood
Boyhood

(2014)

Richard Linklater Movies

director

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Previous (10)

  • 2025 |

    Nouvelle Vague

  • 2025 |

    Blue Moon

  • 2019 |

    Where’d You Go, Bernadette

  • 2017 |

    Last Flag Flying

  • 2016 |

    Everybody Wants Some!!

  • 2013 |

    Before Midnight

  • 2004 |

    Before Sunset

  • 2003 |

    School of Rock

  • 1995 |

    Before Sunrise

  • 1993 |

    Dazed and Confused

actor

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Previous (30)

  • 2023 |
    Hit Man
  • 2022 |
    Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood
  • 2020 |
    The Pushback
  • 2019 |
    J.R. 'Bob' Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius
  • 2018 |

    Blaze

    asOilman
  • 2016 |
    Everybody Wants Some!!
  • 2015 |
    Hitchcock/Truffaut
  • 2015 |

    Hitchcock/Truffaut

    asSelf
  • 2014 |
    Side by Side Extra: Volume Two
  • 2014 |
    Boyhood
  • 2011 |
    Bernie
  • 2009 |
    Great Directors
  • 2009 |
    American Prince
  • 2008 |
    Me and Orson Welles
  • 2008 |
    Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach
  • 2008 |
    RSO: Registered Sex Offenderas Principal Mallard
  • 2006 |
    Fast Food Nation
  • 2006 |
    A Scanner Darkly
  • 2005 |
    Making Dazed
  • 2005 |
    Bad News Bears
  • 2003 |
    School of Rock
  • 2001 |
    Tape
  • 2001 |
    Waking Life
  • 2001 |

    Spy Kids

    asCool Spy
  • 1999 |
    University, Inc.
  • 1998 |
    The Newton Boys
  • 1996 |
    SubUrbia
  • 1994 |
    Janis Joplin Slept Here
  • 1990 |
    Slackeras Should Have Stayed at Bus Station
  • 1988 |
    It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books

Richard Linklater News