Rob Marshall Biography

Rob Marshall (born October 17, 1960) is an American theater director, film director, and choreographer. His most noted work is the 2002 Academy Award for Best Picture winner Chicago, for which he won a Directors Guild of America Award, as well as Academy Award, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nominations for Best Director. A five-time Tony Award nominee, he also won a Primetime Emmy Award for his choreography in the TV movie Annie (1999).

Early life and education

Marshall was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of Anne and Robert D. Marshall, a professor. He was raised in Pittsburgh. His sister is choreographer and director, Kathleen Marshall. He graduated from Falk Laboratory School in 1974. He graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in 1978 and was inducted into their alumni hall of fame in 2012. He attended Carnegie Mellon University and worked in the Pittsburgh theatre scene, performing with such companies as Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera.

Career

Marshall went on to perform as a dancer in various Broadway shows, but suffered a herniated disc while performing in Cats and after recovering, transitioned into choreography and then directing.

He debuted in the film industry with the Emmy Award-winning TV adaptation of the musical Annie by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin. After that he went on to direct the adaptation of the Kander and Ebb musical Chicago in 2002 for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director. His next feature film was the drama Memoirs of a Geisha based on the best-selling book of the same name by Arthur Golden starring Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh and Ken Watanabe. The film went on to win three Academy Awards and gross $162,242,962 at the worldwide box office.

In 2009, Marshall directed Nine, an adaptation of the hit Broadway production with the same name starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren and Penlope Cruz, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Marshall then went on to direct Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth chapter of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean film series starring Johnny Depp, Ian McShane, Penlope Cruz and Geoffrey Rush, which opened on May 20, 2011.

Marshall directed Disney's film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods (2014) and produced the film under his Lucamar Productions banner.

On September 14, 2015, it was announced that Marshall signed on to direct the sequel to the 1964 film Mary Poppins titled: Mary Poppins Returns, reuniting two Into the Woods actresses with Emily Blunt cast to portray the titular character and Meryl Streep in a supporting role.

Personal life

Marshall lives in New York City with his life partner John DeLuca.

List of Tony nominations

Year	Show	Category
1993	Kiss of the Spider Woman	Best Choreography
1994	Damn Yankees	Best Choreography
1994	She Loves Me	Best Choreography
1998	Cabaret	Best Choreography
		Best Direction of a Musical

Filmography

Year	Film	Academy Award Wins	Academy Award Nominations	Notes
1995	Victor/Victoria	-	-	television film, choreographer.
1996	Mrs. Santa Claus	-	-	television film, choreographer. Nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography
1997	Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella	-	-	television film, musical stager and choreographer. Nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography
1999	Annie	-	-	television film, director and choreographer. Winner of Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography, nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
2001	The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts	-	-	television event, director. Winner of Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical/Variety
2002	Chicago	6	13	director and choreographer. Nominated for Academy Award for Best Director. Winner of Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures
2005	Memoirs of a Geisha	3	6	director. Nominated for Satellite Award for Best Director
2006	Tony Bennett: An American Classic	-	-	television film, director/executive producer/co-choreographer. Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special, Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program and Outstanding Choreography
2009	Nine	-	4	director/producer/co-choreographer. Nominated for Satellite Award for Best Director
2011	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	-	-	director
2014	Into the Woods	-	3	director/producer/musical stager
2018	Mary Poppins Returns	-	-	director/producer