Personal details
- Birth Date: 1963-01-14
- Height: 6′ (1.83 m)
- Birth Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Children: (divorced, 1 child) Sarah Soderbergh
- Parents: Peter Soderbergh
- Professions: Producer, Director, Cinematographer
Steven Soderbergh, born January 14, 1963, in Atlanta, grew up bouncing from Georgia to Baton Rouge thanks to his dad’s gig at LSU. The guy’s got Swedish, Irish, and Italian blood running through his veins—so, you know, a bit of cultural flavor. He was only 15 when he started messing around in LSU’s film animation classes, shooting 16mm shorts on gear that was probably older than he was. One of those was this little project called "Janitor." Hollywood came calling after high school, but the freelance editor life didn’t exactly pan out, so he just packed up and went back home to keep making weird indie shorts and scribbling down scripts. His first real shot came in ‘86 when the band Yes tapped him for a concert film, "Yes: 9012 Live." That thing even landed him a Grammy nod, which is kind of wild for a kid barely out of his teens. Two years later, Soderbergh cooked up "Winston," which he later transformed into his breakout indie hit "Sex, Lies, and Videotape." That movie? Total game changer. Palme d’Or at Cannes, Independent Spirit Award, Oscar nom for Best Original Screenplay—the works. He married actress Betsy Brantley, had a daughter, but the next batch of movies—think "Kafka," "King of the Hill," "Underneath," "Gray’s Anatomy"—didn’t exactly light up the box office. Then he bounced back hard with "Out of Sight" in 1998. And by 2000? Two monster hits: "Erin Brockovich" and "Traffic." Both snagged Best Picture nods, and Soderbergh pulled off the almost impossible—double director Oscar noms in one year, and he actually won for "Traffic." Guy’s got some serious moves.
Back when he first landed in LA, he wasn’t living in some fancy penthouse or anything. Nope, he actually crashed in a tiny room above the garage at the Gyllenhaal house. Yeah, THAT Gyllenhaal family—Stephen the director, Naomi the screenwriter, and, of course, little Maggie and Jake running around. Kinda wild to think about now, right? Imagine sitting at the breakfast table and there’s future-Hollywood royalty munching on cereal next to you. This was way before anyone had a clue those kids would become stars. But hey, LA’s full of weird roommate stories, and this one’s just got a little more Oscar potential than most. It’s just one of those classic, “before they were famous” setups—makes you wonder who’s quietly living above some director’s garage right now, just waiting for their shot. Life’s weird that way.
Man, DVD audio commentaries? Total game-changer. Imagine being a broke kid obsessed with movies, and suddenly you get these behind-the-scenes deep dives, straight from the people who actually made the thing. No snoozy textbooks, no snooty professors—just pure, unfiltered knowledge, full of weird stories, real-life screwups, and all the gritty details you never even thought to ask about. You rewind, pause, play it again, and every time you catch something new—a director’s weird obsession with lighting, or an actor confessing how they just totally winged a scene. Stuff like this, honestly, it’s way better than film school. You get the passion, the mistakes, the random asides, and it feels like you’re sneaking into some secret club of movie nerds. All from your couch, popcorn in hand, zero tuition. Tell me that’s not a dream come true.
January 14, 1963
6′ (1.83 m)
Konidela Ram Charan
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Yes, Sarah Soderbergh
Peter Soderbergh and Surekha
62 years old