Woody Allen (USA, b. 1935) has been a major comic director since the 1970s. Writer, director and actor, his self-portrayal as a neurotic, intellectual, sex-obsessed, Jewish New Yorker seeking comfort in psychoanalysis brought him immense popular success and acknowledged status as a writer (Manhattan, 1979; Deconstructing Harry, 1997). In the 2000s he left New York to work in Europe, winning over a new audience with fresh inspiration and young actors, including Scarlett Johansson in Match Point (2005) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008).