Sir Peter Jackson

• Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM 
  • Born 31 October 1961.
  • Began making movies at an early age with his parents' camera.
  • Left school at seventeen and worked as a photoengraving apprentice.
  • Began making a movie using a 16 mm camera, taking over three years and paid for out of his wages. It was 75 minutes long, and called Bad taste (1988).
  • The New Zealand Film Commission gave him some money to complete the movie that has become a cult classic.
  • Carried on to make other movies including Meet the Feebles (1990), Braindead (1992), and the TV hoax documentary Forgotten silver (1995).
  • Won international recognition including an Academy Award nomination for Heavenly creatures (1994), based on the Parker-Hulme murders in Christchurch.
  • Made The Frighteners (1996), starring Michael J. Fox, and using Lyttelton as the location.
  • Made a three-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings:
  • Part One: The Fellowship of the Ring was released in December 2001, and was nominated for four Golden Globe awards, and 12 nominations for the BAFTA awards
  • Part Two: The Two Towers was released in December 2002
  • Part Three: The Return of the King was released in December 2003
  • Was made a Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for his services to the film industry in the 2002 New Year's Honours. His partner, Fran Walsh, was made a Member of The New Zealand Order of Merit. (MNZM).