Susanne Bier

Born in Denmark in 1960, Susanne Bier studied arts and architecture in Jerusalem and London before she graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 1987. Her first feature film, 1991's "Freud Leaving Home," began her involvement in the Scandinavian film industry. Her specialty was creating gripping family dramas with a glimmer of hope, but her first major success was the romantic comedy "The One and Only" in 1999. That year at the Robert Awards, the Danish equivalent of the Academy Awards, the film won Best Picture. Her 2002 film infidelity drama "Open Hearts" ("Elsker dig for evigt") was made using the Dogme 95 aesthetic, eschewing artificial light and additional music and even a script, in an effort to remove the assistance or restrictions from technology and bring power back to the artist. That film also won the Robert Award for Best Picture. In 2004, her film "Brothers" ("Brodre") was released to much acclaim, and was remade in 2009, directed by Jim Sheridan and starring Jake Gylenhall, Tobey Maguire, and Natalie Portman. Her 2006 internationally flavored family drama "After the Wedding" ("Efter brylluppet") was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and in 2010 she won the award with another international family drama, "In A Better World." In 2012, Bier took her first stab at success in the U.S. when she released the romantic comedy-drama "Love Is All You Need" starring Pierce Brosnan. That film was well received critically, but not as well financially. Her second attempt with American movie stars, the ill-fated "Serena" (2015), starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, was not liked by either critics or audiences.