British theatre producer (born 1965)
Sonia Friedman CBE (née Sonia Anne Primrose Freedman; born April 1965[1]) is a British West End and Broadway theatre producer. On 27 January 2017, Friedman was named Producer of the Year for the third year running at The Stage Awards, becoming the first person to win the award three times. In 2018, Friedman was featured in "TIME100", Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2018 and was named Broadway Briefing's Show Person of the Year. In 2019, Sonia Friedman Productions was ranked The Stage 's most influential theatre producer in The Stage 100.
Early life
Friedman is the youngest of three daughters of Clair Llewelyn (née Sims), a concert pianist, and violinist Leonard Freedman (who later changed his name to Friedman), who was leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham and co-founder of many national institutions including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Baroque Ensemble.[2][3][4] Her father is from a Russian-Jewish immigrant family, and her mother is English.[5] Her older sister is the actress and director Maria Friedman.[6][3][7]
Career
Theatre producer
After working at the National Theatre between 1988 and 1993 (fulfilling the various roles of stage management, Education Manager, Head of Education and Producer of Mobile Productions and Theatre for Young People), she co-founded the new writing theatre company Out of Joint in 1993 with Max Stafford-Clark. From 1998, Friedman worked as a producer for the Ambassador Theatre Group. She launched her own theatre company, Sonia Friedman Productions, in 2002. Friedman's productions have been nominated for and won numerous Olivier, Tony and other awards.[8][9]
At the 2014 Olivier Awards, Sonia Friedman Productions made Olivier Awards history by winning the most awards for any producer and for winning prizes for Best New Play (Chimerica), Best New Musical (The Book of Mormon), Best Play Revival (Ghosts) and Best Musical Revival (Merrily We Roll Along).[citation needed] In 2017, Friedman won producer of the year at The Stage Awards for a third year (becoming the first person to win the award three times),[10] and was listed as no. 1 on The Stage power list, the second solo female to hold this position in the award's history and becoming the first person to top the list that wasn't a theatre owner.[11]
SFP productions and co-productions received an unprecedented 31 nominations in the 2017 Olivier Awards – including a record-breaking 11 for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – the most nominated new play in Olivier history. The show went on to win 9 Olivier Awards – the most ever for one production.[12]
In 2018, Friedman was awarded the Equity Services to Theatre Award at the 18th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards, and was featured in Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World.[13] In July 2022, it was announced that Friedman would be developing a play with Stephen Daldry set in the same world as the TV series Stranger Things.[14]
TV and film producer
In 2015, Sonia Friedman Productions co-produced two television dramas, the BAFTA Nominated The Dresser which aired on BBC Two and directly followed after SFP's partnership with Playground Entertainment on the six-part mini-series adaptation of Dame Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, which also aired on BBC Two in January 2015 and won two BAFTA Television Awards in 2016. In 2020, Sonia Friedman Productions partnered with Angelica Films to create a re-interpretation of Ian Rickson's stage production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya.[citation needed] The new film version of the production was shown in cinemas ahead of broadcast on the BBC. This made it the first UK stage production closed by the Coronavirus pandemic to have been filmed and produced for the screen. In 2021, Sonia Friedman produced J'Ouvert for BBC Four, a film version of the live theatre production at the Harold Pinter Theatre.
Honours
Friedman was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to theatre[15] and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours, also for services to theatre.[16]
Personal life
She is the younger sister of director/actress/singer Maria Friedman, violinist Richard Friedman and Dr Sarah Beecham. Friedman lives with her partner, a writer, in London.[citation needed]
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