Mike Mills (director) Biography
Mike Mills (born as Michael Chadbourne Mills) is a film director as well as music video director, graphic designer, and writer from America. Among his notable films include 20th Century Women, Thumbsucker, and Beginners and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the independent film 20th Century Women.
Mike Mills Age
Michael Chadbourne Mills is 53 years old as of 2019. He was born on March 20, 1966 in Berkeley, California.
Mike Mills Parents | Family and Alma Mater
Mills is the son of Paul Chadbourne Mills, an art historian and museum director and Janet L. Dowd, a draftsperson. Sadly, Janet died of brain cancer in 1999. Six months later, his father came out as gay after 44 years of marriage and at 75 years old. At the age of 80, Mills’ father passed on after succumbing to lung cancer. He studied at Cooper Union in Lower Manhattan, New York City.
Mike Mills Wife | Mike Mills Miranda July
Mills has been married to American film director and artist Miranda July since the summer of 2009. They had met at their first Sundance Festival premieres in 2006. They have a son known as Hopper Mills who was born in February 2012.
Mike Mills Career
Mills began his career in 1999. He has since created music videos for musical acts like music group Air, Moby, and Yoko Ono. Air even named the fifth song on their album Talkie Walkie after Mills.
Mills has been a graphic designer on promotional material and album covers for artists like They Might Be Giants, Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Beck, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard. He has also created graphics for X-Girl, Marc Jacobs, and produces his own line of posters and fabrics called Humans by Mike Mills.
He used to play the guitar and perform background vocals with the short-lived indie rock band Butter 08 alongside Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto, Russell Simins of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and Rick Lee of Skeleton Key. In 1996, they released just one self-titled album on the now-defunct Grand Royal record label.
Mills made his directorial debut with the feature-film Thumbsucker in 2005. He also created film posters for the feature. He filmed the feature-length documentary Does Your Soul Have A Cold?, in 2007, that focused on the issues around the introduction of anti-depressants to Japanese culture. Does Your Soul Have A Cold? premiered at SXSW Festival as part of IFC’s documentary film series.
In 2010, he directed another film titled Beginners that was followed by another one known as 20th Century Women, starring actors Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning and Billy Crudup. 20th Century Women premiered to the world at the New York Film Festival. It was then released by the independent entertainment company A24 on December 28, 2016.
Through his books, Gas Book 11 (2003) and Humans (2006), Mills has released some of his art/documentary photography works. The Berlin-based culture magazine 032c devoted an issue to Mills in 2009. For the occasion, Mills was interviewed by Nick Currie, best known for his work as Momus, in a piece called “Getting Through the New Depression”.
Mike Mills The National
Among his latest works is directing the short film I Am Easy to Find in 2019 with Alicia Vikander playing the lead role. The film also accompanied the album of the same name by The National.
Mike Mills Books
2011 – Drawings From the Film Beginners
2009 – Graphics Films
2008 – Fireworks
2006 – Humans
2005 – Thumbsucker
2003 – Gas Book 11
Mike Mills Films
2019 – I Am Easy to Find
2016 – 20th Century Women
2010 – Beginners
2007 – Does Your Soul Have A Cold?
2005 – Thumbsucker
2004 – Not How Or When Or Why But Yes
2001 – Paperboys
2000 – Deformer
1999 – The Architecture of Reassurance
1999 – AIR: Eating Sleeping Waiting & Playing
1998 – Hair Shoes Love and Honesty
1998 – Richard June’s Backyard
1995 – Skating with Dave and Jared
1995 – An Introduction to Harmolodics
Lost Episode III-Cheese (Frank Black)
Lost Episode I-Los Angeles (Frank Black)
Men in Black (Frank Black)
1997 – CDFA Awards (Kate Spade)
Birthday (Kate Spade)
Rock Star (Lauren Hoffman)
Banking (Marc Jacobs)
Entertainment (Marc Jacobs)
Look Presents: Qui est-vous New York (Marc Jacobs)
2001 – VH-1 Fashion Awards (Marc Jacobs)
Bummer