DIRECTOR · BORN 1970
Paul Thomas Anderson
- Born
- 26 June 1970
41 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
10 Facts About Paul Thomas Anderson's Life and Family
- #001
While attending New York University's film school, Paul Thomas Anderson submitted some works by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet as his own. When they came back with a "C" grade, he decided to leave.
- #012
Paul Thomas Anderson's favorite film of all time is The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).
- #013
Paul Thomas Anderson has four children with his girlfriend Maya Rudolph: daughters Pearl Minnie Anderson (b. October 15, 2005) and Lucille Anderson (b. November 6, 2009), son Jackson Wright "Jack" Anderson (b. July 3, 2011) and daughter Minnie Ida Anderson (b. August 1, 2013).
- #014
On A Prairie Home Companion (2006), Paul Thomas Anderson was hired for insurance purposes as a backup director in case the ailing 80-year-old director Robert Altman was unable to finish shooting.
- #015
Paul Thomas Anderson had a difficult relationship with his mother and refused to discuss her in interviews. It has been noted that the relationship between Dirk Diggler and his mother in Boogie Nights (1997) reflects his own; this was something Joanna Gleason, who played Dirk's mother, told Anderson on set.
- #021
Paul Thomas Anderson has disliked cancer-related jokes ever since his father died of cancer.
- #022
Paul Thomas Anderson studied at Santa Monica College, Emerson College and New York University.
- #035
Paul Thomas Anderson is a big Major League Baseball fan. His favorite teams are his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox, his late father's favorite team.
- #036
According to a 2008 Esquire article, the first idea for Hard Eight (1996) came to Paul Thomas Anderson after watching Philip Baker Hall in Midnight Run (1988): "For instance, in the summer of 1988, when Midnight Run (1988) came out. It was a fairly formulaic action-comedy, and Martin Brest was nowhere near Anderson's pantheon of cool directors, but something caught his eye: an actor with a little-known name, Philip Baker Hall. In four short scenes, Hall plays a Las Vegas consultant trying to convince his godson not to hit people. His name was Sidney. In one scene he says, 'I don't think you should do this.' In another, he uses an oddly formal diction that seemed to strike Anderson, vibrating with David Mamet's rhythms: 'I'm required to advise you against that kind of behavior.'".
- #040
Paul Thomas Anderson is the son of Ernie Anderson and Edwina Gough.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work