Trudie Styler (born 6 January 1954) is an English actress, director, and film producer.
Early life and family
Styler was born in
Bromsgrove,
Worcestershire, the daughter of Pauline and Harry Styler, a farmer and factory worker.
[ England & Wales, Birth Index: 1837-1983 database. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office. Ancestry.co.uk Lists Trudie Styler on the index of births registered in Jan-Mar. 1954.] When Styler was two years old, she was hit by a van. She received severe facial injuries that left her badly scarred and required several plastic surgery operations up until the age of 18. Her classmates nicknamed her "scarface", which caused her to feel for many years that she was "not a very attractive person".
She attended North Bromsgrove High School, where one of her teachers was the singer-songwriter Clifford T. Ward.
Acting career
Styler trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and went on to appear in various period
BBC productions. She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, in which she played multiple major roles. Her theatre credits also include
The Vagina Monologues,
Twin Spirits, and
The Seagull.
She has appeared in many British television series such as The Mayor of Casterbridge and The Scold's Bridle, and in the United States television shows Empire, The Night Of, Friends (S8 Ep10), and Falling Water.
Styler's film work includes Lifetime Television's Living Proof and Paul Haggis' The Next Three Days. She has also made seven mind-body fitness DVDs released by Gaia, Inc.
Film production
In the mid-1990s, Styler established Xingu Films, a production company dedicated to supporting new talent, such as
Guy Ritchie,
Dito Montiel and
Duncan Jones. In late July 2008 it was announced that Xingu had optioned
American Reaper, an upcoming
graphic novel written by
Pat Mills, who would also write the screenplay.
[ Grim 'Reaper' lands at Xingu, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 July 2008]
Styler has produced and co-directed several award-winning documentaries and feature films, including Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch; Duncan Jones' Moon; and Michael Apted's Moving the Mountain, which won the 1994 International Independent Documentary Award.
After moving to New York, Styler co-founded the production company Maven Pictures with Celine Rattray in 2011.
Philanthropy
In 1989, Styler and her husband, Sting, cofounded the Rainforest Foundation Fund, an organisation devoted to protecting rainforests and their indigenous peoples. Since 1991, she has produced regular Rock for the Rainforest benefits at Carnegie Hall. As a
UNICEF Ambassador, Styler has also raised millions for their projects around the globe.
In 2008, it was reported that Styler donated £10,000 into the charitable Ama Sumani cancer fund.[ Star's support for cancer woman, BBC Wales News, 17 February 2008.]
Styler is also a patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
Personal life
Styler married rock musician Sting at Camden Register Office on 20 August 1992, and the couple had their wedding blessed two days later in the twelfth-century parish church of St Andrew in Great Durnford,
Wiltshire, south-west England.
In 1982, Sting separated from his first wife, actress
Frances Tomelty,
following an affair with Styler;
Tomelty and Sting divorced in 1984.
The split was controversial; as
The Independent reported in 2006, Tomelty "just happened to be Trudie's best friend (Sting and Frances lived next door to Trudie in Bayswater, west London, for several years before the two of them became lovers)".
Sting and Styler have four children, three of whom were born before they married: Brigitte Michael ("Mickey Sumner", born 19 January 1984), Jake (24 May 1985), Coco Sumner (nicknamed "Coco", 30 July 1990), and Giacomo Luke (17 December 1995). Coco is a singer who now goes by the name Eliot Sumner, and was the founder and lead singer of the group I Blame Coco. Giacomo Luke is the inspiration behind the name of Kentucky Derby-winning horse Giacomo.
Filmography
Producer
-
Boys from Brazil (1993)
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Moving the Mountain (1994)
-
The Grotesque (1995) a.k.a. Gentlemen Don't Eat Poets (USA) a.k.a. Grave Indiscretion
-
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) a.k.a. Two Smoking Barrels (USA)
-
Snatch (2000)
-
Greenfingers (2000) a.k.a. Jailbuds
-
The Sweatbox (2002; also director)
-
Cheeky (2003)
-
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
-
Alpha Male (2006)
-
Moon (2009)
-
Wake Up (2010)
-
The Son of No One (2011)
-
Girl Most Likely (2012)
-
Filth (2013)
-
Black Nativity (2013)
-
Still Alice (2014)
-
Ten Thousand Saints (2015)
-
Miss You Already (2015)
-
American Honey (2016)
-
For Grace (2016)
-
Anatomy of Violence (2016)
-
Novitiate (2017)
-
Freak Show (2017)
-
Kings (2017)
-
The Kindergarten Teacher (2018)
-
Wildling (2018)
-
Boarding School (2018)
-
Skin (2018, short)
-
Skin (2018)
-
Driveways (2019)
-
Human Capital (2019)
-
(2021)
-
(2021)
-
Silent Night (2021)
-
A Mouthful of Air (2021)
-
Infinite Storm (2022)
-
Inland (2022)
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Unicorns (2023)
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The Burial (2023)
-
Eleanor the Great (2025)
Actor (selected)
-
Poldark (1977, 5 episodes)
-
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1978, episode: #1.7)
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The Gentle Touch (1980, episode: "Shock")
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Funny Man (1981, 11 episodes)
-
The Bell (1982, 4 episodes)
-
Cockles (1984, episode: "Mermaids")
-
(1984)
-
The American Bride (1986)
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Fair Game (1988)
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The Grotesque (1995)
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The Scold's Bridle (1998, 2 episodes)
-
Midsomer Murders (1999, episode: "Strangler's Wood")
-
Me Without You (2001)
-
Friends (2001, episode: "The One with Monica's Boots")
-
Bug (2002)
-
Empire (2005, 3 episodes)
-
Love Soup (2005, 5 episodes)
-
Alpha Male (2006)
-
The Vicar of Dibley (2007, Comic Relief special: "Wife Swap")
-
Living Proof (2008)
-
Paris Connections (2010)
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The Next Three Days (2010)
-
A Dish of Tea with Dr. Johnson (West End, Edinburgh, 2011 tour)
-
Filth (2013)
-
Zoolander 2 (2016)
-
Maniac (2018, 4 episodes)
-
Pose (2019, 4 episodes)
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(2021)
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Silent Night (2021)
-
Search Party (2022, 2 episodes)
Director
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"My Funny Friend and Me" (2000, music video; co-directed with John-Paul Davidson)
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The Sweatbox (2002; co-directed with John-Paul Davidson)
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Wait (2005, short)
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Freak Show (2016)
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Spark Hunter (2022, podcast series)
-
Posso entrare? An ode to Naples (2023; also writer)
External links
