Tom Hooper — Director | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

Thomas George Hooper (born 5 October 1972) is a British-Australian filmmaker.

Hooper began making short films as a teenager and had his first professional short, Painted Faces, broadcast on Channel 4 in 1992. At Oxford University, Hooper directed plays and television commercials. After graduating, he directed episodes of Quayside, Byker Grove, EastEnders, and Cold Feet on British television. In the 2000s, Hooper directed the major BBC costume dramas Love in a Cold Climate (2001) and Daniel Deronda (2002), as well as the 2003 revival of ITV's Prime Suspect series, starring Helen Mirren. Hooper made his feature film debut with Red Dust (2004), a British drama starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor, before directing Helen Mirren again in the Company Pictures/HBO Films historical drama Elizabeth I (2005). He continued working for HBO on the television film Longford (2006) and in John Adams (2008), a seven-part serial on the life of the American president. Hooper returned to features with The Damned United (2009), a fact-based film about the English football manager Brian Clough (played by Michael Sheen). The following year saw the release of the historical drama The King's Speech (2010), starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, which was met with critical acclaim. Hooper's next film was Les Misérables (2012), which featured an all-star cast led by Hugh Jackman. His 2015 film, The Danish Girl, was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. Recently, Hooper has directed two episodes of His Dark Materials and a live-action adaptation of the musical Cats, for which he won two Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Director and Worst Screenplay.

Hooper's work was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for Prime Suspect and John Adams, won one for Elizabeth I, and was nominated for the British Academy (BAFTA) TV Craft Award for Best Director for Longford. The King's Speech won multiple awards, including Best Director wins for Hooper from the Directors Guild of America and the Academy Awards and a Best Director nomination from BAFTA.

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