     sir alan william parker,  (born 14 february 1944) is an english film director, producer and screenwriter. the early part of his career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television commercials. after about 10 years doing commercials, many of which won awards for creativity, he began screenwriting and directing films. among the different genres parker has directed have been musicals, including bugsy malone (1976), fame (1980), pink floyd â the wall (1982), the commitments (1991), and evita (1996); true-story dramas, including midnight express (1978), mississippi burning (1988), come see the paradise (1990), and angela's ashes (1999); dramas, including shoot the moon (1982), and horrors and thrillers including angel heart (1987), and the life of david gale (2003). his films have won nineteen bafta awards, ten golden globes and ten academy awards. parker was appointed a commander of the order of the british empire by queen elizabeth ii for his services to the british film industry and knighted as a knight bachelor in 2002. he has been active in both the british cinema and american cinema, along with being a founding member of the directors guild of great britain and lecturing at various film schools. in 2013 he received the bafta academy fellowship award, the highest honour the british film academy can give a filmmaker.  ==early years== parker was born into a working-class family in islington, north london, the son of elsie ellen, a dressmaker, and william leslie parker, a house painter. he grew up in an islington housing project and as a result has always been able to relate to average people. according to british novelist and screenwriter ray connolly, parker "remains almost defi
1944_births Best_Director_BAFTA_Award_winners British_film_directors British_film_producers British_screenwriters Copywriters Knights_Bachelor Living_people Officiers_of_the_Ordre_des_Arts_et_des_Lettres People_from_Islington