Armando Bo

Argentine writer-director Armando Bo transitioned from a successful career directing advertising spots for international television to feature screenwriter, earning a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for his work on the complex fantasy-drama "Birdman" (2014). Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1978, Bo was the third generation of a family of filmmakers: his grandfather and namesake, Armando Bo, was a pioneering director of sexploitation films, while his father, Victor Bo, was a producer and actor in numerous genre pictures from his native country. Armando Bo began working in motion pictures in his teenage years, and studied a number of related disciplines, including film at New York Film Academy, art history at the Fine Arts Museum in Buenos Aires and performing with Argentine actor Julio Chavez. His professional career behind the camera began in the advertising field, where he helmed commercials and promotional spots for major companies, including Visa, TD Ameritrade and the American Dairy Council. His work on these and countless other spots earned him an array of industry accolades, including numerous CLIO and Cannes Lions awards between 2005 and 2014. In the midst of this prolific period, Bo teamed with cousin and fellow Argentinean filmmaker Nicolas Giacobone to write the script for Alejandro Inarritu's Oscar-nominated drama "Biutiful" (2010). Two years later, he helmed his first feature film, "El Ultimo Elvis" ("The Last Elvis," 2012), a melancholy character study about an Elvis Presley impersonator who struggles to balance the challenges of his life with his stage persona. A critical favorite at numerous film festivals, including the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it received a nomination for the Grand Jury Prize in World Cinema, "The Last Elvis" solidified Bo's status as a writer-director on the rise in the international film market. In 2014, he and Giacobone teamed with American playwright Alexander Dinelaris to write the screenplay for Inarritu's "Birdman" (2014), a complex comedy-drama about a former action movie star's attempt to redeem his life and career with a gritty stage play. The film, which unfolded as if in a single, unbroken take over the course of its running time, was a critical hit in late 2014 and swept the awards season, capturing not only an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay but also a Best Screenplay Golden Globe for Bo and his collaborators. The following year, he reteamed with his "Birdman" co-creators for "The One Percent" (Starz Network, 2015- ), an original drama series with Ed Helms, Hilary Swank and Ed Harris.