English filmmaker Francis Lee was BOTD in 1969. Born and raised on his parents’ farm in Soyland, West Yorkshire, he moved to London to study acting at Rose Bruford College. He spent most of the 1990s working in regional theatre, with small roles in TV series Peak Practice, Midsomer Murders, Heartbeat, Dinnerladies and Casualty and the films Topsy-Turvy and Me Without You. After making a series of short films in the 2000s, he made a stunning debut in 2017 with his first feature film God’s Own Country, a wistful romance about a closeted gay farmer who falls in love with a hunky Romanian migrant worker. Praised for its blend of gritty realism, swooning romance and forthright sexuality (including, happily, full frontal nude scenes with its attractive stars Josh O’Connor and Alec Secǎreanu), it was one of the most acclaimed films of the year, winning multiple industry awards, including the World Cinema Directing Award at the Sundance FIlm Festival, and Best British Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the British Independent Film Awards. His next film Ammonite, released in 2020, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan as lesbian lovers in 1840s Dorset, loosely based on the life of English palaeontologist Mary Anning. Openly gay since forever, Lee lives near Haworth in West Yorkshire, where he maintains an impressive badger beard. His relationship status is unknown.