Harald Zwart

HARALD ZWART has a knack for weaving visual magic and telling stories that are funny and accessible. He is one of the leading lights of a new generation of internationally trained feature filmmakers.

Fluent in three languages, the Dutch-born filmmaker has a unique gift for reaching across cultural boundaries to touch the minds and hearts of audiences of all backgrounds and ages. Zwart was born in Holland and grew up in Fredrikstad, Norway where he began making films when he was eight. He received his formal training at the prestigious Dutch Film Academy in Amsterdam.

After his student film Gabriel‘s Surprise was shown on Scandinavian television, he began receiving offers to direct television commercials and he went onto become one of Europe‘s most successful directors of advertising and music videos.

He won numerous awards for his commercial work including Director-of-the-Year honors (1998) at London‘s Midsummer Awards. His commercial credits include spots for BMW Mini, ING, Sky Television and Nokia. Due to Zwart‘s feature background he is often called upon for celebrity testimonials, these have included spots with Jose Mourinho, Michael Douglas, John Travolta and Richard Gere for Lancia.

In 1997, Zwart made his debut as a dramatic filmmaker with Commander Hamilton, a 4-part mini-series for Scandinavian television. Starring Academy Award®-winner Lena Olin (The Unbearable Lightness of Being), Mark Hamill (Star Wars trilogy) and Peter Stormare (Bad Boys II, Minority Report), the series achieved unabated popular and critical acclaim. A feature-length version was subsequently released theatrically and became the region‘s top-grossing film of the year.

Based on that success, Zwart began to receive offers from Hollywood. He became the first Norwegian director to be accepted as a member of the Director‘s Guild of America an Zwart‘s feature film debut followed in 2001 with One Night at McCool‘s, starring Liv Tyler, Michael Douglas, Matt Dillon and Paul Reiser. A black comedy about three men who fall in love with the same woman on the same night, the film showcased Zwart‘s talent for complex narrative, edgy humor and inspired casting.

Zwart directed Agent Cody Banks, the action/adventure film starring Frankie Muniz and Hilary Duff. Such was his involvement in the project that he went on to create the story for Cody Banks II.

Zwart went on to helm The Pink Panther 2, with Steve Martin, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, Aishwarya Rai, John Cleese, Jeremy Irons and Lily Tomlin. Zwart, who divides his time between Los Angeles and Oslo, continues to direct commercials and develop Feature projects through Zwart Arbeid, the company he founded with Veslemoey Ruud Zwart.

© 2010 Columbia Pictures