LONE SCHERFIG
Date of Birth: May 2, 1959
Born 1959 in Copenhagen, Danish film director Lone Scherfig graduated in 1984 from the Danish Film School. She started out in advertising and by 1985, was already winning awards for her work, including the Lion d'Argent at the Cannes International Advertising Film Festival. Her debut as a film director was with Kaj's fodselsdag (1990) (The Birthday Trip). The film won the Grand Jury Prize and the Club Espace Award at the Rouen Nordic FIlm Festival. For a couple of years Scherfig wrote and directed short films and worked in radio and stage, as well as directing episodes of various television series. In 1998 Scherfig's next feature film appeared—the touching children's comedy, Nar mor kommer hjem (1998) (On Our Own). This film was the recipient of the Grand Prix at the Montreal Film Festival and the Cinekid Prize in Amsterdam.
In 2000, Scherfig got her international breakthrough with the romantic comedy, Italiensk for begyndere (2000) (Italian for Beginners), for which she received a bevy of awards, including the Silver Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Scherfig followed up with her first English-language film, Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002), shot in Scotland, though initially conceived as a Danish film. Again, she received multiple awards, including the Audience Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Her next English-language film was An Education (2009), based on Nick Hornby's screenplay and starring Carey Mulligan. The film won the Audience Award at the Mill Valley Film Festival and a nomination as British Film of the Year from the London Critics Circle Film Awards.
Lone is married to a psychologist and lives in Denmark.