Profession: English filmmaker, photographer and conceptual artist.

 

Quote "'I don't really listen to other people's opinions, just follow my heart and my instincts."

 

 The early Years: Taylor-wood was born to a yoga-teacher and astrologist mother, and a Biker father (who left when she was nine).

 

 Fine Art: Taylor-Wood began exhibiting fine art photography in the early-1990s. One collaboration with Henry Bond, titled 26 October 1993, featured Bond and Taylor-Wood practicing the roles of Yoko Ono and John Lennon a few hours before Lennon was assassinated, in 1980. In 1994, she exhibited a multi-screen video work, titled Killing Time, in which four people mimed to an opera score. From that point, multi-screen video pieces became the main focus of Taylor-Wood's work.

 

Taylor-Wood was nominated for the controversial Turner Prize in 1997, but lost out to fellow Young British Artist (YBA), Gillian Wearing. She won the Illy Café Prize for Most Promising Young Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale. In 2002, Taylor-Wood was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to make a video portrait of David Beckham—whom she depicted sleeping.

 

Film and television work: In 2008, Taylor-Wood directed her first short film, Love You More, written by Patrick Marber and produced by Anthony Minghella. Her directorial feature film debut was 2009’s Nowhere Boy, a film based on the childhood experiences of The Beatles songwriter and singer, John Lennon. It was on the set of Nowhere Boy that she met her current husaband, Aaron Johnson. Due to the success of the Film Taylor-Wood was nominated for a BAFTA award, but lost out to Duncan Jones (Moon)

 

By all accounts, Taylor-Wood is one tough cookie: having survived two bouts of cancer, she has raised two young daughters and recently welcomed a third into the family.

 

Taylor-Wood received a key piece of advice early in her career that we'd all do well to abide by: "Whatever you do, don't settle for anything less than following your dream." She’s certainly doing a good job of that so far.