Alexander Payne, American film director
Alexander Payne is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his films Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, and Sideways. His films are usually set in Nebraska and are satirical comedies with a dark sense of humor about the American middle class.
Payne was born on March 2, 1961, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Thomas Payne and Peggy A. (née Fifer), who ran a family insurance business. Payne’s mother is of German descent. His father died of a heart attack in 1984 at age 53, when Payne was 23. Alexander Payne studied journalism at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and entered the University of Arizona’s film program.
In 1989, he received his Master of Fine Arts from the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles, California. The following year he made his first short film, “The Passionate Thief” (1990), which was a finalist for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. He won Omaha’s Young Filmmakers Award for work on “The Passionate Thief” and went on to make several other short films, including “Eating with Peter Finch” (1991), about two men eating lunch together; and “Lovers” (1993), which follows two characters as they move through their daily routines in Los Angeles.
Payne began his career in television with the short-lived Fox sitcom The Payne Family (1995). He joined the writing staff of Picket Fences after three episodes, then co-wrote episode seven of its fourth season with Sam Egan when David E. Kelley was showrunner. He is credited for having written fifteen additional episodes and co-writing two others during his show. After writing for shows like Chicago Hope and Northern Exposure during this same period, Payne was recruited to be a writer on The Simpsons by fellow Nebraska native Matt Groening in 1997, where he worked until 1999. In 1999, Payne joined the writing staff of The Sopranos, where he wrote the episode “Boca” and served as a story editor for the show’s final season. He won his first Emmy Award in 2002 for his work on The Sopranos.