SCOTT HICKS
Born in Uganda, Hicks lived in Kenya, just outside Nairobi, until the age of ten. His family then moved, first to England and, when he was 14, on to Adelaide, Australia. An only child, with little exposure to the film industry, his first love was radio. At 16, he had completed high school and decided to enter Adelaide University for a degree in the arts and law. Four years later, he graduated into an industry which was emerging from decades of inactivity, stimulated by renewed government support for the arts. Hicks worked as a crew member on a dozen features over the next few years. At the same time, he was successful in bidding for contracts to write and direct short dramas and sponsored documentaries. By the mid-1980s, he had managed to make a couple of low budget features, one for the South Australian Film Corporation. Hicks began to make non-fiction films. "The Great Wall of Iron" which was the Discovery Channel's highest-rated program was soon followed by his series Submarines: "Sharks of Steel". By 1996, Hicks had struck gold with his feature film, "Shine". Starring Geoffery Rush and telling the story of pianist David Helfgott, the film was a resounding hit and soon became a cultural phenomenon, beloved by people around the world. Garnering him award nominations from the Academy Awards, BAFTA and Golden Globes for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Screenplay, it received the People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival. With his first worldwide success under his belt, Hicks went on to direct more feature films like "Snow Falling on Cedars" (1999) and "Hearts in Atlantis" (2001). He most recently directed Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling in the romantic drama "The Lucky One" (2012).