After working in theatre (he was a musician and performer in the experimental group People Show) Figgis made his feature film debut with the low budget "Stormy Monday" in 1988. The film earned him attention as a director who could get interesting performances from established Hollywood actors. His first American film was "Internal Affairs", which helped to revive the career of Richard Gere. His next Hollywood feature, "Mr. Jones", was misunderstood by the studio, who attempted to market the downbeat story as a feelgood film, resulting in a box office flop. Figgis poured his disenchantment with the film industry into "Leaving Las Vegas", which starred Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue, which earned Figgis Academy Award nominations for Best Directing and Best Screenplay. He followed this up with the romantic drama "One Night Stand", starring Wesley Snipes and Nastassja Kinski, but the movie received a poor response from critics and was a commercial failure. His most ambitious film to date is the low-budget film "The Loss of Sexual Innocence", a loosely based autobiographical film of the director himself.