Martin Campbell knows how to entertain an audience when he steps behind
the camera. When he directed
Die Maske des Zorro (1998), 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 (2000), 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 (1995),
Pierce Brosnan's first outing as the
famed British spy, which went on to gross more than $350 million. He
also directed Daniel Craig's debut Bond feature as well,
Casino Royale (2006).
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 - Abschaum (1979), as well as
Black Joy (1977), which was selected
for competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Campbell made his
directorial debut on the British police action series
Die Profis (1977)
and continued with the popular BBC series
Shoestring (1979) and Thames TV's
Der Aufpasser (1979)
Considered one of the U.K.'s top directors by the mid-'80s, he directed
the highly praised British telefilm,
Reilly - Spion der Spione (1983).
For his work on
Die Plutonium-Affäre (1985), 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 (1998) and he went on
to direct Wehrlos (1991) and
Flucht aus Absolom (1994). Some of his American
credits include directing HBO's
Hexenjagd in L.A. (1991)
and two episodes of NBC's
Homicide (1993),
among others. He also directed the epic romance
Jenseits aller Grenzen (2003) starring
Angelina Jolie and
Clive Owen.
