Susanne Bier grew up in Copenhagen. Between her time in Jerusalem and film school in Denmark, she also studied architecture at the Architectural Association in London. In 1987 she graduated from the National Film School of Denmark, making her first feature-length film a few years later, Freud Leaving Home/Freud flyttar hemifrån… (1991). Although her now extensive career spans several genres and countries, film and television, she is often associated with the Danish dogma movement from the mid-1990s. Most of her films are Danish-Swedish co-productions, several of them shot in Sweden. Bier has filmed two screenplays by Jonas Gardell, Like It Never Was Before/Pensionat Oskar from 1995 and Once In A Lifetime/Livet är en schlager from 2000.

In 2006 Bier won her first Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category for After the Wedding/Efter bröllopet, and in 2011 she won the Academy Award in the same category for In a Better World/Hämnden. In a Better World also won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language. Mikael Persbrandt plays the lead in both films. With these and other successes under her belt, Bier has made several American films, including Serena from 2014 and Things We Lost in the Fire from 2007.

At the 2016 Göteborg Film Festival, Susanne Bier received the Nordic Honorary Dragon Award. In the same year she directed the much-hyped TV series The Night Manager, for which she won a Best Director Emmy. This made history in Danish film as she was the first person to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe and an Emmy. The Night Manager is based on the novel by John le Carré and featured Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman and Hugh Laurie, who all won Golden Globes in 2017 for their performances.

Bier followed up this successful TV work with the film Bird Box. Shot in California in 2017/2018, it is described as a future dystopia in a post-apocalyptic world and features such actors as Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson and John Malkovich.

Freya Kilander (2018)
(Translated by Matt Bibby)

Basic info

Main profession: Director
Born: 1960
Active: 1991-

Filmography

Regi:
Bird Box (2018)
The Night Manager (tv-serie 2016)
Serena (2014)
En chance til (2014)
Bröllop i Italien (2012)
Hämnden (2010)
Things We Lost in the Fire (2007)
Efter bröllopet (2006)
Bröder (2004)
Älskar dig för evigt (2002)
Livet är en schlager (2000)
Den enda rätta (1999)
Pensionat Oskar (1995)
Taxi till Portugal (1993)
Luischen (tv-film, 1993)
Freud flyttar hemifrån … (1991)

Regiassistent:
Notater om kærligheden (1989)

Manus:
En chance til (2014)
Hämnden (2010)

Idé:
Bröllop i Italien (2012)
Älskar dig för evigt (2002)
Den enda rätta (1999)

Roll:
Livet är en schlager (2000)

Synopsis:
Efter bröllopet (2006)
Bröder (2004)

Manusbearbetning:
Freud flyttar hemifrån … (1991)

Castingassistent:
Himmel og helvede (1988)

Read more about the films at the Danish Film Institute (DK)

Awards

Emmy Award 2016 för The Night Manager (tv-serie)
Göteborgs filmfestival 2016 Nordic Honorary Dragon Award
Oscar Bästa utländska film 2011 för Hämnden
Golden Globe 2010 för Hämnden
Publikpriset vid Sundancefestivalen 2004 för Bröder
Göteborgs-Postens Nordiska Filmpris 1992 Freud flyttar hemifrån …
Festivalpris (Valladolid) 1992 Freud flyttar hemifrån … (bästa regidebut)

+ ytterligare 31 festivalpris och 37 nomineringar!