Last Updated on September 13, 2024
Who Is Woody Allen?
Woody Allen, formerly Allen Stewart Konigsberg, is an actor, musician, director, screenwriter, comedian, and writer. He is renowned for producing and appearing in the romantic comedies Manhattan, Annie Hall, Midnight in Paris, Match Point, and Hannah and her sisters.
Throughout his illustrious career, he has won many awards for filmmaking, writing, and comedy, such as the Golden Globe Award, the Academy Award, Primetime Emmy Award, BAFTA Award, and the American Comedy Award.
Quick Facts
| Full Name: | Heywood Allen, Allan Stewart Konigsberg |
| Popular Name: | Woody Allen |
| Gender: | Male |
| Birth Date: | December 1, 1935 |
| Age: | 87 years |
| Parents: | Martin Konigsberg, Nettie Konigsberg |
| Siblings: | Letty Aronson |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York, USA. |
| Nationality: | American |
| Ethnicity: | Ashkenazi Jewish, Russian, Austrian |
| Education: | Midwood High School, City College of New York, New York University |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Sexual Orientation: | Straight |
| Wife/Spouse: | Harlene Rosen (m.1954, div.1959) Louise Lasser (m.1966, div.1970), Soon-Yi Previn (m.1997 to date) |
| Children: | Dylan O’Sullivan Farrow, Ronan Farrow, Manzie Tio Allen, Moses Farrow, Bechet Allen |
| Dating: | N/A |
| Net Worth: | $140 million |
| Source of Wealth: | Actor, Comedian, Film director, Musician, Screenwriter, Writer, Film Producer |
| Height: | 5ft4 (1.65m) |
| Weight: | 72kg (110lbs) |
Early Life And Career Information
Woody Allen was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA, as Allan Stewart Konigsberg on December 1, 1935. He was the first child of Martin and Nettie Konigsberg.
Allen is Ashkenazi Jewish of Russian and Austrian descent. Due to his Jewish descent, he attended a Hebrew school and public school simultaneously. He went to Midwood high school and graduated in 1953; and later went to New York University but dropped out after failing a course. Woody changed his name legally to Heywood Allen at 17 before he eventually started calling himself Woody.
Woody started writing jokes by age 15 and dived into show business when he began writing jokes for The Herb Shriner Show in 1955. Shortly after, he became a scriptwriter for Ed Sullivan, The Tonight Show, and Sid Caesar. Allen also wrote for Candid Camera, The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, and Stanley. In 1961, he started performing as a stand-up comedian in the era of Shelley Berman, Elaine May, and Lenny Bruce.
He wrote the screenplay for his very first movie, What’s New Pussycat, but he found the final product dissatisfactory because the director/producer edited several things out. After this disappointment, Allen vowed never to write movie scripts unless he was directing the movie. He got his first director gig with the movie “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?. In 1969 he directed and appeared in the movie entitled “Take the Money and Run.”
In 1966, Allen already had various plays that he wrote on Broadway, some of which were “Don’t Drink the Water,” “Play It Again, Sam,” “The Floating Light Bulb,” secondhand memory, and others.
He has also acted in movies he wrote and directed. The most prominent of those movies are Annie Hall, Midnight in Paris, Hannah and her sisters, Hollywood Ending, Match Point, Whatever Works, To Rome with Love and Cafe Society. Other movies that Allen has worked on include Sleeper, The Front, Love and Death, Bananas, Interiors, and many others.
Throughout Allen’s career, he has received over 75 writing credits, 50 directing credits, and nearly 50 acting credits. Allen has also directed 49 feature films and one short film and worked on 14 theater productions.
Woody Allen’s Net Worth
Woody Allen is one of the greatest and most versatile Hollywood stars. The bulk of Woody’s net worth is from his widely acclaimed Romantic classics like Manhattan, Match point, Midnight, and Annie Hall.
Allen began as a humorist, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, playwright, actor, musician, writer, and producer and all of these contribute to his whopping net worth of $140 million.
Lessons From The Life Of Woody Allen
Humor Is Important
“I feel humor is important for those two reasons: that it is a little bit of refreshment like music, and that women have told me over the years that it is very, very important to them.” ~Woody Allen
Life is hard enough as it is, especially one without laughter and humor. Humor, Woody believes, is needed to navigate the tenuous waters of life as a life without laughter will make for a gloomy existence.
Make The Most of Your Situation
“Life is horrible, but it is not relentlessly black from wire to wire. You can sit down and hear a Mozart symphony, or you can watch the Marx Brothers, and this will give you a pleasant escape for a while. And that is about the best that you can do.” ~Woody Allen
Life, Woody says, will not always be fair to us. There will be good and bad times, but how we handle those times, especially the bad ones, determines how far we can progress in life. Finding joy in the little things is a good way to deal with the less-than-good times.
Effort is Rewarding
“Eighty percent of success is showing up” ~Woody Allen
For anything to start and end up successful, you must try. It is not enough to visualize your goals; you must put in the effort, and the majority of the effort is simply starting and showing up.
Be Confident
“Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem.” ~ Woody Allen
One of the keys to success is trying no matter how tough or strange something is. And yes, sometimes your task might seem daunting, and you might not know what to do, but being confident in your abilities goes a long way in helping you achieve your goal. Simply put – if you believe, you can achieve.
