ZACK SNYDER
Date of Birth: March 1, 1966
Born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Zack Snyder was featured in British Communication Arts magazine as one of the most talented commercial directors in the country. He began his early artistic training by studying painting at the Heatherlies School in London, then went on to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
Working as both director and cinematographer, Snyder has won numerous awards for his commercial work, including two Clios. His Jeep "Frisbee" commercial received a Gold Lion Award at Cannes. He has traveled all over the world shooting spots for companies such as Audi, Budweiser, Subaru and Compuware. Snyder has also created dynamic portraits of sports icons such as Michael Jordan, Martina Navratilova and Troy Aikman for clients Nike and Reebok.
Snyder made his feature film directorial debut with Dawn of the Dead (2004), starring Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames. His next film, 300 (2007) starring Gerard Butler, was done on a much bigger scale, with a $65,000,000 budget. It was a huge box office smash, bringing in over $210 million at the U.S. box office alone. For his next project, Watchmen, Snyder was given a budget of $100,000,000. A fan of the graphic novels himself, Snyder put his heart and soul into the film, which stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson and Billy Crudup. His next project was the animated feature Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole 3D (2010), followed by the girl power fantasy Sucker Punch (2011).
Married to second wife Deborah, Snyder has four children from his first marriage.