Sir Peter Robert Jackson

Biography• Peter Jackson is a New Zealand

filmmaker and screenwriter. He was born on 31 October 1961 in Wellington. His parents — Joan a factory worker and William "Bill" Jackson, a wages clerk — were both immigrants from England.

• As a child, Jackson was a keen film fan. After a family friend gave the Jacksons a Super 8 cine-camera, he began making short films with his friends.

• Most notable was a 20-minute short called “The Valley”, which won him a special prize because of the shots he used.

• He had no formal training in film-making, but learned about editing, special effects and make-up largely through his own trial and error.

Career

• He is best known as the director, writer and producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–03) and The Hobbit trilogy (2012–14).

• Jackson began his career with the "splatstick" horror comedy Bad Taste (1987) and the black comedy Meet the Feebles (1989) before filming the zombie comedy Braindead (1992).

Career• Other notable films include the critically lauded drama Heavenly

Creatures (1994), the mockumentary Forgotten Silver (1995), the horror comedy The Frighteners (1996), the epic monster remake film King Kong (2005) and the supernatural drama film The Lovely Bones (2009).

• He also produced District 9 (2009), The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011) and the documentary West of Memphis (2012).

Awards• He shared a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original

Screenplay with his partner Fran Walsh for “Heavenly Creatures”, which brought him to mainstream prominence in the film industry.

• Jackson has been awarded three Academy Awards, or "Oscars“, in his career, including the award for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay in 2004. He has also received a Golden Globe, four Saturn Awards and three BAFTAs amongst others.

Honours• In the 2002 New Year

Honours Jackson was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to film.

• In the 2010 New Year Honours he was promoted to Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, also for services to film.

• In the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours Jackson was appointed a Member of the Order of New Zealand, New Zealand's highest civilian honour.