British filmmaker Christopher Nolan and his film producer wife Emma Thomas are to receive a knighthood and damehood for their services to the industry after their blockbuster biopic Oppenheimer swept the awards season.
Nolan and Thomas have collaborated for nearly two decades on all of his major feature films including The Dark Knight trilogy, 2010's Inception, 2014's Interstellar, 2017's Dunkirk and 2020's Tenet.
Earlier this month, Nolan won his first Oscar for directing the story of the life of the 'father of the atomic bomb', which starred Irish actor Cillian Murphy in the titular role.
Nolan had previously been nominated for six Academy Awards for pondering important questions throughout his body of work, but had never won an Oscar for directing until this year's ceremony.
He was previously awarded a CBE by Prince William in 2019, and described receiving the honour as a 'tremendous thrill'.
Born in London to a British father and American mother, Nolan read English at University College London (UCL), choosing the school because of its filmmaking facilities.
The couple met at university and have four children together - Flora, Oliver, Rory and Magnus.
They co-founded and run a production company, Syncopy, which has been behind many of their blockbusters.
Speaking as he was awarded his CBE in 2019, Nolan spoke of his love of film and pride that it had gained him the prestigious honour.
'As a passionate advocate of film and the importance of film culturally, it is really thrilling to me that film would be honoured in this way and is considered worthy of this kind of honour,' he said.
'I think film is one of the great collective pastimes, one of the great art forms.
'It is lovely to see it accorded this kind of status.'
When Nolan was presented with the British Film Institute (BFI) Fellowship for being 'one of the world's most innovative and influential film directors', he credited his wife.
He said he never felt alone making films as Thomas 'always saw things the same way I did in terms of the importance of the medium'.
The co-chief executive officer of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, has been made an honorary CBE for his services to the creative industries.
The American businessman joined the streaming giant in 2000 and has been responsible for content operations since. He was appointed to his top position in July 2020.
Demis Hassabis, the London-born co-founder of tech startup DeepMind, has been awarded a knighthood for services to Artificial Intelligence.
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