Gareth Edwards

Gareth Edwards was a British visual effects designer and film director whose talent for destructive set pieces were tailor-made for such blockbuster films such as "Monsters" (2010) and "Godzilla" (2014). Although his parents were of Welsh descent, Edwards was born and raised in Nuneaton, England in 1975. He grew up admiring George Lucas' "Star Wars" Trilogy, which greatly influenced his decision to become a filmmaker. He decided to study film production at the University for the Creative Arts and graduated in 1996. Edwards entered the entertainment industry within the world of visual effects, working on made-for-TV documentaries such as "Seven Wonders of the Industrial World" (2003) and "Dive to Bermuda Triangle" (2004). In 2005, Edwards nabbed a BAFTA TV Award for his visual effects work on the TV movie documentary "Hiroshima." In the same year he directed his first film in the television movie, "End Day" (2005), a docu-drama that showcased several doomsday scenarios by a fictional scientist. In 2010, Edwards made his feature film directorial debut with the science fiction film "Monsters." Using his past expertise with special effects, Edwards was able to weave an engrossing movie about an extra-terrestrial invasion wreaking havoc along the U.S.-Mexico border. "Monsters" demonstrated Edwards' ability to handle massive scales of destruction and mayhem, which led to his involvement as the director of 2014's "Godzilla." Starring Bryan Cranston as the lead scientist, "Godzilla" brought back a modern and faithful return of the iconic Japanese monster to the big screen. On the back of that film's box office success, it was announced in May 2014 that Edwards was going to direct the first stand-alone film in the "Star Wars" universe, due out in December 2016.