Peter Jackson

The amazing award-winning artist Sir Peter Jackson is a director, screenwriter, and producer, who is best known for his The Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as for The Hobbit trilogy, King Kong, and the music documentary The Beatles: Get Back. His movies have made well over $6.5 billion worldwide, and in 2014 he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002, and in 2010 he was knighted.

Born and raised in Wellington, New Zealand, Jackson grew up with a love of movies and had his own Super 8 camera when he was a boy. He made many shorts films and never had any training, just teaching himself through trial and error. He then made his feature film debut in 1987, the horror-spoof Bad Taste, which went on to debut at the Cannes Film Festival. Earning himself cult status, he then made Meet the Feebles in 1989, and Braindead in 1992, before hitting the big-time with the acclaimed and Oscar-nominated Heavenly Creatures in 1994. This paved the way for his first big budget Hollywood movie, The Frighteners, in 1996.

Jackson secured the rights to J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings in 1997, and began filming in 1999, shooting all three books back-to-back. The third instalment, The Return of the King, went on to win 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Since then he has gone on to make a number of epic movies, including King Kong, and The Hobbit trilogy, as well as The Lovely Bones.

Jackson regularly connects with his millions of followers and fans through Facebook, and Instagram, posting pictures and videos of his creative life. He also has a dedicated YouTube channel, Peter Jackson.