Woody Allen

Background

Heywood Allen, popularly known as Woody Allen, was born in the city of New York, U.S., to a Jewish family. His father, Martin Konigsberg, worked as a waiter and jewelry engraver while his mother, Nettie, served as a bookkeeper at the family’s deli. Allen also has a sibling — a younger sister named Ellen Letty Aronson, who is a film producer.

Growing up, he would attend several summer camps. He went to Hebrew school for a period of eight years before attending Isaac Asimov School for Science and Literature (then Public School 99). Thereafter, he attended Midwood High School and graduated from the institution in the year 1953. During this time, he grew interested in baseball and was part of the school team.

He began writing short jokes at age 15. When he was 17, Allen legally changed his name from Allan Stewart Konigsberg to Heywood Allen. Later, he started calling himself ‘Woody.’ After finishing high school, he went to New York University in 1953 to pursue a degree in film and communication. However, he decided to drop out of university and began studying film at the City College of New York in the subsequent year before dropping out again. When he was 19, Allen was invited to join the writer’s development program by NBC. In 1960, he began performing as a stand-up comedian. He started writing plays in 1966 and wrote the screenplay for his first film. He began directing films during the 1970s, which included “Bananas,” “Sleeper,” “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex*,” and “Love and Death.”