Baltasar Kormákur Samper was born 27 February 1966. He is an Icelandic actor, theater and film director, and film producer. He graduated as an actor from Iceland’s National Academy of Fine Arts in 1990. He was immediately signed on by the National Theatre of Iceland, where he worked as one of the leading young performing artists until 1997. The first feature film he directed is 101 Reykjavík, which earned the Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Subsequently, Variety selected him as one of the „10 Directors to Watch“. He has since then directed and produced films such as The Sea, A Little Trip to Heaven (starring Julia Stiles and Forest Whitaker), a film based on the book Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason, Contraband, 2 Guns (starring Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington) and Everest. He has won numerous awards at festivals around the world.
