Phelim McDermott

Phelim McDermott (born 21 August 1963) is an English actor and stage director. He has directed plays and operas in Britain, Germany, Spain, the United States, and Australia. McDermott was a co-founder of the theatre company Improbable in 1996.

Career McDermott was born in Manchester, England. His screen debut was as Jester in the 1991 film Robin Hood, followed by further minor roles in The Baby of Mâcon (1993) and other films. He has appeared on stage in 1996 in his own play 70 Hill Lane, based on a reported experience with a poltergeist when he was 15 and a 2017 production of Lost Without Words at the Royal National Theatre. He also appeared in the BBC Radio 4 improvisational show The Masterson Inheritance (1993 to 1995).

He was made an Honorary Doctor of Middlesex University in 2007.

McDermott received the 2023 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director for My Neighbour Totoro.

Notable productions 1996: 70 Hill Lane by McDermott, Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal 1997: A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed with Julian Crouch for the Royal Shakespeare Company 1998: Shockheaded Peter for the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, and the Lyric Hammersmith, London 2002: A Midsummer Night's Dream for Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg 2007: Satyagraha by Philip Glass for English National Opera (ENO), and in 2008 for the Metropolitan Opera (MET), New York; restaged at the ENO in 2009 and 2013, and in 2011 at the MET 2009: The Addams Family with Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane, Oriental Theatre, Chicago, and in 2010 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Broadway 2011: The Enchanted Island for the Metropolitan Opera, New York 2013: The Perfect American by Philip Glass for Teatro Real, Madrid, English National Opera, and in 2014 for Opera Queensland and Brisbane Festival 2014: Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for English National Opera 2016: Akhnaten by Philip Glass for English National Opera 2017: Aida by Giuseppe Verdi for English National Opera 2018: Così fan tutte by Mozart, a new production for the Metropolitan Opera 2019: Tao of Glass by Philip Glass, a new production for the Manchester International Festival 2019: Akhnaten by Philip Glass for the Metropolitan Opera 2022: The Hours by Kevin Puts for the Metropolitan Opera 2022: My Neighbour Totoro by Tom Morton-Smith at the Barbican Centre 2026: Tao of Glass, West End premiere @sohoplace