Nimród Antal  

In brief: Nimród Antal director from the United States.

Biography: Born in Los Angeles in 1973 to Hungarian parents, Nimród Antal and moved to Hungary in 1991 to study at the Academy of Film and Drama in Budapest. His parents had brought him to Hungary many times to visit as a child, so he felt quite at home there and spoke the language fluently. He soon began getting jobs as a director of photography and then, as a commercial and music video director. However, he found it wasn?t emotionally fulfilling, and after winning an award for his short film Biztosítás (1998) at the Drama Short Film Festival, he decided to make a full length feature film set in the subway system. Funding came from a wealthy German businessman in the form of $200,000, and the rest ($600,000) from the Hungarian government. The film, titled Kontroll (2003), was a success, winning awards at festivals around the world, including the Award of the Youth at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Based on that success, he was picked up by a high profile Los Angeles agency. Returning to Los Angeles in 2005, Antal was signed to direct Sony Pictures? feature Vacancy (2007), starring Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson. Antal lives in Santa Monica with his wife and son. When questioned about his first name, he says it?s not a common name in Hungary either, and jokes that he gets heat about it all the time.