Woody Allen, a three-time Academy Award-winning film director, writer and actor, will make his operatic debut in September 2008, directing Gianni Schicchi at LA Opera. Mr. Allen began his career as a comedy writer and stand-up comedian. He began writing for television in New York and was hired in 1964 to write the screenplay for What's New, Pussycat? Since then, he has written, directed and starred in dozens of films, including Bananas (1971); Sleeper (1973); Annie Hall (1977), for which he won Academy Awards for director and original screenplay; Interiors (1978); Manhattan (1979), Broadway Danny Rose (1984); The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985); Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), for which he won an Academy Award for original screenplay; Radio Days (1987); Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989); Husbands and Wives (1992); Bullets Over Broadway (1994); Mighty Aphrodite (1995); Deconstructing Harry (1997); Match Point (2005); Scoop (2006) and, most recently, Cassandra's Dream. He has written for the theater such works as his play, Play It Again, Sam, which he later adapted for film and in which he starred.