Martin Campbell

Biography

Date of Birth

24 October 1940, Hastings, New Zealand

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Biography

Martin Campbell knows how to entertain an audience when he steps behind the camera. When he directed The Mask Of Zorro, the movie earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations and launched the international careers of Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Next, when he helmed Vertical Limit, the film was well received by the critics and earned over $200 million in worldwide box office sales. In addition, Campbell is credited with rejuvenating the James Bond franchise when he directed GoldenEye, Pierce Brosnan's first outing as the famed British spy, which went on to gross more than $350 million. He is directing the next Bond feature as well, Casino Royale.

Born in New Zealand, Campbell moved to London where he began his career as a cameraman. He went on to produce the controversial British feature Scum, as well as Black Joy, which was selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Campbell made his directorial debut on the British police action series "The Professionals," and continued with the popular BBC series "Shoestring" and Thames TV's "Minder."

Considered one of the U.K.'s top directors by the mid 1980s, he directed the highly praised British telefilm, "Reilly: Ace Of Spies." For his work on "Edge Of Darkness," a five-hour BBC miniseries about nuclear contamination in England that depicted murder and high-ranking corruption, he won six BAFTA awards.

Campbell's first Hollywood movie was Criminal Law and he went on to direct Defenseless and No Escape. Some of his American credits include directing HBO's "Cast A Deadly Spell" and two episodes of NBC's "Homicide: Life On The Street," among others. He also directed the epic romance Beyond Borders starring Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Spouse

Sol E. Romero

(6 October 2006 - present)

Trade Mark

Frequently sets important portions of the film or has characters fighting one another atop very high places.

Personal Quotes

I like pre-production and post the best. I don't like shooting at all. I find it grueling and tough, but I love post and the whole process of seeing the film finally come together. You start ironing out all the rough spots, and the really bad bits you just throw away. So from day one of post to the last day, you see nothing but improvements.

"He's a young Steve McQueen and I wanted to show that. As a first-time director, I wanted to make sure I hired people who were good actors. That was really important, to make my life easier. Daniel is so on the cusp of becoming a big star, and I hope this is the catalyst." - On Daniel Craig