Philip Ridley was born in the East End of London and studied Fine Art at St Martin's School of Art. As a writer his credits include nine children's novels - including Krindlekrax (1991), winner of the Smarties Prize, Kasper in the Glitter (1994), nominated for the Whitbread Prize, and Scribbleboy (1997), shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal - and two pieces for younger children. His stage plays are The Pitchfork Disney (1991), The Fastest Clock in the Universe (1992), which won the Meyer-Whitworth Prize, a Time Out Award, and both the Critics' Circle and the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Most Promising Playwright, Ghost from a Perfect Place (1994), Vincent River (2000), Krindlekrax (premiered by the Birmingham Rep in June 2002) and three plays for young people: Fairytaleheart (Hampstead Theatre, 1998), Sparkleshark (Royal National Theatre, 1999) and Brokenville (2001), which received a Fringe First nomination at the Edinburgh Festival. His short film, The Universe of Dermot Finn (1988), was followed by his screenplay for The Krays (1990), winner of the Evening Standard British Film of the Year Award, and the cult classic The Reflecting Skin (1990) - his first film as both writer and director, which won eleven international awards and was voted one of the Best Ten Films of 1991 by the Los Angeles Times. In 1991 he was awarded the Most Promising Newcomer to British Film at the Evening Standard Film Awards. His second feature film as writer and director, The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995), won the Best Director Award at the Porto Film Festival. The theme song he co-wrote for this film, 'Who Will Love Me Now?', was released as a single by P. J. Harvey. His work has been translated into seventeen languages.
