Biografia
Stephen Lennhoff is a London-based film and television director, producer, and writer, originally from Alexandria, Virginia, born in 1960. He has created numerous acclaimed and award-winning shows for major UK and US broadcasters including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Discovery, PBS, and MTV. After earning an MA in Art History from Boston College, Stephen relocated to the UK in 1983 to attend the London International Film School, where he produced his first drama short, "Highway Hotel," inspired by Edward Hopper's paintings.
Launching his directing career in the UK, Stephen made music videos for bands such as Black Sabbath and Dr. & The Medics, directing the video for their chart-topping single "Spirit In the Sky." He also produced and directed entertainment news segments for MTV before transitioning to UK broadcast television. His early TV work includes the drama documentary "Sexual Intercourse Began in 1963," which examined the trial of D. H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, as well as numerous programs for Channel 4's arts series "Without Walls." During this period, he collaborated with notable cultural figures like Germaine Greer, Erica Jong, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Camille Paglia, and Frederic Raphael, assisting them in visualizing their arguments for television. He also directed several documentaries for Channel 4's pioneering "Out" series, including "Skin Complex," which investigated the use of skinhead imagery within gay subcultures.
In subsequent years, Stephen directed multiple segments for the cult UK series "Eurotrash," numerous episodes of the adventure travel series "Globetrekker" for Discovery USA and PBS, and accompanied high-profile entertainers on the road with popular UK series such as "Graham Norton's Unzipped" (Channel 4), "Dom Joly's Happy Hour, India" (Sky 1), and the New York Festivals award-winning "Paul O'Grady's America" (ITV). Expanding into comedy, he directed the feature film "Rhythm and Blues," a camp cult comedy set in London's gay male escort scene, which premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2000.
Stephen briefly lived in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he directed a diverse mix of drama and comedy for Irish and British television. His projects included the alternative comedy travel series "How Low Can You Go - Reality Check," several episodes of the Irish-language teen drama "Seacht," and the Irish crime drama series "Maru." He also maintained his involvement in factual programming, directing notable documentaries such as "Confessions of An IRA Informer" (BBC), the IFTA-nominated series "Death Duties" (RTE), and "Come Fly With Me, The Real Story of Pan Am," narrated by Honor Blackman (BBC, BBC America).
Now based in London, Stephen has recently produced and directed a comprehensive six-part historical series on the power struggle between the Ottoman Empire and Christian Europe titled "Ottomans Vs. Christians," along with several episodes of the Bloomberg TV arts series "Brilliant Ideas.
