Born: 30 April 1954

Image by George Pimental, WireImage.com

Happy Birthday to Academy Award winning director Jane Campion. She originally studied Anthropology in New Zealand before moving to London to study art, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in painting. She soon grew dissatisfied with the restraints of painting as a medium and turned to film and a successful career as director and producer.

She received the Short Film Palme d’Or award for her first short film An Exercise in Discipline – Peel (1982) and went on to release equally successful short films such as Passionless Moments (1983) and A Girl’s Own Story (1984).

Her success continued when she moved into directing feature films, receiving critical acclaim for Sweetie (1989) and An Angel at My Table (1990). She made history with the film The Piano (1993) when she became the first female director to win the Palme d’Or and also at the 66th Academy Awards where she became the second women ever to be nominated for the Best Director award. She also received the Best Picture nomination and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Her other films include The Portrait of a Lady (1996), Holy Smoke (1999), In the Cut (2003) and Bright Star (2009).

Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan, speaking of The Piano, said “It made me want to write roles for women: beautiful women with soul, will and strength, not victims or objects“

Read more at The Internet Movie Database

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