JULIE TAYMOR In 1998, Taymor became the first woman to win the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical, and a Tony for Best Costumes, for The Lion King. The musical won three Molière Awards including Best Musical and Best Costumes, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League awards for Taymor’s direction; numerous awards for her original costume, mask and puppet designs. Taymor made her Broadway debut in 1996 with Juan Darién: A Carnival Mass (five Tony nominations). Other theatre: The Green Bird, Titus Andronicus, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, The Transposed Heads and Liberty’s Taken. Feature films: Titus (Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange); Frida (Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina, six Academy Award nominations, winning two); and Across the Universe (Golden Globe nomination, Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy). Taymor’s next film, The Tempest, was presented at the New York Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival in 2010. Her adaptation of the William Shakespeare play features Helen Mirren, Russell Brand, Djimon Hounsou and Alfred Molina, and will be released on December 10. Taymor has directed five operas internationally including Oedipus Rex with Jessye Norman (International Classical Music Award for Best Opera Production, Emmy Award), Salomé, The Flying Dutchman, The Magic Flute (in repertory at the Met since 2004, the abridged English version inaugurated the PBS series “Great Performances at the Met”) and composer Elliot Goldenthal’s Grendel. Taymor is a 1991 recipient of the MacArthur “genius” Fellowship.