Callie Khouri
Encyclopedia
Callie Khouri is an American screenwriter and film director. In 1992 she won the Academy Award
for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for the film, Thelma & Louise.
. Her father was a physician who trained in Louisville, where he met her mother. He subsequently served in the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss in El Paso, then entered private practice in Paducah, Kentucky. Following her graduation from high school there, she first studied landscape architecture at Purdue University
but became interested in drama. Post college, she studied at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute in Los Angeles
. Khouri currently lives in Santa Monica, California
.
. For the script, she won an Academy Award
for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen in 1992. At the Oscar ceremony she said, "For everyone who wanted to see a happy ending for 'Thelma and Louise,' for me this is it."
She also wrote Something to Talk About
.
She co-wrote and directed Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
; and Mad Money
, a crime-caper film starring Diane Keaton
, Queen Latifah
, and Katie Holmes
.
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for the film, Thelma & Louise.
Biography
Khouri was born in San Antonio, TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Her father was a physician who trained in Louisville, where he met her mother. He subsequently served in the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss in El Paso, then entered private practice in Paducah, Kentucky. Following her graduation from high school there, she first studied landscape architecture at Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
but became interested in drama. Post college, she studied at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Khouri currently lives in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
.
Career
While working for a company that made commercials and music videos, she began writing Thelma & Louise, her first produced screenplayScreenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
. For the script, she won an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen in 1992. At the Oscar ceremony she said, "For everyone who wanted to see a happy ending for 'Thelma and Louise,' for me this is it."
She also wrote Something to Talk About
Something to Talk About (film)
Something to Talk About is a 1995 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Lasse Hallström, from a screenplay written by Callie Khouri. It stars Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid as an estranged couple, Kyra Sedgwick as Roberts's sister, and Robert Duvall and Gena Rowlands as their parents. The...
.
She co-wrote and directed Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a novel written by Rebecca Wells. Is follows the novel Little Altars Everywhere. In 2005, Wells wrote Ya-Yas in Bloom and then The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder...
; and Mad Money
Mad Money (film)
Mad Money is a 2008 comedy-crime film starring Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes, and directed by Callie Khouri. It is loosely based on the 2001 British film Hot Money.-Plot:...
, a crime-caper film starring Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
, Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
, and Katie Holmes
Katie Holmes
Katherine Noelle "Katie" Holmes is an American actress who first achieved fame for her role as Joey Potter on The WB television teen drama Dawson's Creek from 1998 to 2003. Her movie roles have included the blockbuster Batman Begins along with art house films such as The Ice Storm and thrillers...
.