Born 1953

Perhaps the most important comic director in the New York cinematic canon, Woody Allen started his career writing scripts for other comics. He did his first stand–up comedy act in 1960 at the Blue Angel in Manhattan, and wrote the successful Broadway play Don’t Drink the Water in 1967. He is best known for writing, directing, and starring in more than twenty comic films, most of which take place in New York City, such as Manhattan (1979) and Annie Hall (1977). The characters he plays are quintessential New Yorkers: self–obsessed and worried to the point of incapacitation, they suffer and writhe in the agony of urban existence, without ever losing their romanticized vision of the city.

“He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his black–rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat... New York was his town. And it always would be.”
–Isaac (Woody Allen), Manhattan

“Alvy, you’re incapable of enjoying life, you know that? I mean you’re like New York City. You’re just
this person. You’re like this island unto yourself.”
–Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) in Annie Hall