New Zealand native Peter Jackson is best known as a director for his adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, which won 11 Oscars.
Born on October 31, 1961, in New Zeland, Peter Jackson started his prolific career as a child, creating short films with an 8-mm movie camera. Without any formal training, Jackson has directed many successful films ranging across all genres. He is most well-known for his film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, which has won numerous awards. He stayed with the Tolkien fantasy brand when The Hobbit film series was released.
Jackson married Fran Walsh, a screenwriter who had helped him gain contacts in the New Zealand film industry during the 1980s. Walsh co-wrote the screenplays for Heavenly Creatures andThe Lovely Bones. They have two children, Billy and Katie.
As the director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson is one of the most popular and acclaimed film directors alive. He is the rare director who makes films that are both action-packed, special effects-laden blockbusters and high quality, critically acclaimed works of art. Jackson credits his enormous success to his tireless work ethic, obsessively working and reworking a film until the last possible moment. "There's no such thing as perfection," he says. "You're never finished with a film. You run out of time."
