Michael Apted enjoys a career spanning film and television, winning recognition and many awards for his work in both media.

He began working as a researcher at Granada Television and soon became established as an investigative reporter and television director of the news series World in Action, before becoming a drama director on the long running British soap Coronation Street. Among his sixty plus television credits are The Lovers and Folly Foot, which won BAFTA Awards, and Another Sunday and Sweet FA and Kisses at Fifty, both of which won him the award as Best Dramatic director.

In 1972, Apted made his directorial film debut with Triple Echo, starring Glenda Jackson and Oliver Reed, followed by the acclaimed rock and roll drama Stardust, then The Squeeze, with Stacy Keach and Agatha, starring Dustin Hoffman and Vanessa Redgrave.

In 1980 his first American feature Coal Miner's Daughter, garnered seven Academy nominations, including Sissy Spacek's Oscar for her portrayal of the country-western singer Loretta Lyn. He then directed John Belushi in Continental Divide, and William Hurt in an adaptation of the best-selling novel Gorky Park. In 1985 Bring On The Night, which chronicled the creation of rock star Sting's Blue Turtles album and his subsequent tour, won Apted a Grammy Award.

Gorillas in the Mist, starring Sigourney Weaver, gained five Academy nominations. This was followed by Class Action, a court room drama starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Thunderheart, starring Val Kilmer, Blink, a thriller with Madeleine Stowe and Aidan Quinn and Nell, starring Jodie Foster, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the title role.

In 1996, Apted directed Extreme Measures, a medical ethics drama starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant, followed by Always Outnumbered, starring Laurence Fishburne, written by Walter Mosley.

In 1999 he directed the James Bond adventure The World Is Not Enough, which became the most successful film in the franchise to date, starring Pierce Brosnan, Judi Dench and Denise Richards. This was followed by Engima, a World War II drama starring Kate Winslett and Dougray Scott and Enough, starring Jennifer Lopez.

In 2004, Apted directed the three establishing episodes of the epic HBO drama Rome, which follows two soldiers from Julius Caesar's army as the Republic collapses and the Empire begins.

Parallel to his feature film career, Michael Apted has made documentaries that have attracted awards, as well as critical and box office success. The most notable of these is the series which began with 7 Up, following the lives of a group of 14 British schoolchildren from the age of seven, in 1963, visiting them every seven years to chart their lives. The most recent of the series, 49 Up, aired in 2005. Other documentaries include Married in America, the Rolling Stones Forty Licks Tour and The World 2006, following soccer and it's global influence leading up to the 2006 World Cup.

Michael Apted is currently President of the Directors Guild of America, for a second term, and was recently awarded the International Documentary Association's highest honour, the IDA Career Achievement Award.