Damien Chazelle

Damien Chazelle
Chazelle in September 2014
Born	Damien Sayre Chazelle (1985-01-19) January 19, 1985 (age 32) Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
Education	Princeton High School
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Director, screenwriter
Years active	2008–present
Spouse(s)	Jasmine McGlade (m. 2010; div. 2014)
Parent(s)	Bernard Chazelle Celia Chazelle
Awards	Academy Award BAFTA Award Golden Globe Award
Signature

Damien Sayre Chazelle (/ʃəˈzɛl/; born January 19, 1985) is an American director and screenwriter. After making his directorial debut with the musical Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009), his breakthrough came when he wrote and directed his second feature film, Whiplash (2014), which was based on his award-winning 2013 short film of the same name. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival and went on to receive five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

His 2016 film La La Land received critical and commercial acclaim, winning all 7 of its Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture - Musical or Comedy, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. It also received a record-tying 14 Academy Award nominations, winning six including Best Director, with Chazelle becoming the youngest person in history to win the category at age 32.

Chazelle was born to a Roman Catholic family in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother, Celia (Martin) Chazelle, is an American-Canadian writer and professor of history at The College of New Jersey, who was raised in Calgary, Alberta. His father, Bernard Chazelle, is a French-American Eugene Higgins Professor of computer science at Princeton University, originally from Clamart, France. Chazelle has a sister, Anna, who is an actress and circus performer. His maternal grandfather, John Sayre Martin, Jr., is the son of John Sayre Martin, who worked for Paramount Pictures in London, and Eileen Earle, who was a stage actress.