The Most Famous

FILM DIRECTORS from Norway

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This page contains a list of the greatest Norwegian Film Directors. The pantheon dataset contains 2,041 Film Directors, 9 of which were born in Norway. This makes Norway the birth place of the 33rd most number of Film Directors behind Switzerland, and Hong Kong.

Top 9

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Norwegian Film Directors of all time. This list of famous Norwegian Film Directors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.

Photo of Deeyah Khan

1. Deeyah Khan (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 56.13, Deeyah Khan is the most famous Norwegian Film Director.  Her biography has been translated into 29 different languages on wikipedia.

Deeyah Khan (Urdu: دیا خان, pronounced [diːja xaːn], born 7 August 1977) is a Norwegian documentary film director and human rights activist of Punjabi/Pashtun descent. Deeyah is a two-time Emmy Award winner, two time Peabody Award winner, a BAFTA winner and has received the Royal Television Society award for Best Factual Director. She has made seven documentaries to date, all have been shown on ITV in the UK as part of its Exposure series. Her debut film as director and producer, Banaz: A Love Story (2012) about the honor killing of a British-Kurdish woman won an Emmy and a Peabody. Her second documentary, Jihad: A Story of the Others, nominated for a BAFTA, Grierson and Monte-Carlo Television Festival involved two years interviewing Islamic extremists and convicted terrorists. Her 2017 documentary White Right: Meeting The Enemy was also Bafta-nominated and won an Emmy award for Best International Current Affairs Documentary and the Rory Peck Award for Best Current Affairs documentary in 2018— this film saw Deeyah travel to the United States where she shadowed neo-Nazis at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. She is the founder and CEO of production company Fuuse, which specializes in documentary films, digital media platforms and content for television broadcasters and live events. She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of sister-hood Magazine which spotlights the diverse voices of women of Muslim heritage. In 2016 Khan became the inaugural UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Artistic Freedom and Creativity.

Photo of Morten Tyldum

2. Morten Tyldum (b. 1967)

With an HPI of 54.61, Morten Tyldum is the 2nd most famous Norwegian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Morten Tyldum (Norwegian: [ˈmɔ̂ʈːn̩ ˈtʏ̀ldʉm]; born 19 May 1967) is a Norwegian film director. He is best known in his native Norway for directing the thriller film Headhunters (2011), based on the novel by Jo Nesbø, and internationally for directing the historical drama The Imitation Game (2014), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, and the science fiction drama Passengers (2016).

Photo of Bent Hamer

3. Bent Hamer (b. 1956)

With an HPI of 52.99, Bent Hamer is the 3rd most famous Norwegian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Bent Hamer (born 18 December 1956) is a film director, writer and producer, born in Sandefjord, Norway in 1956.

Photo of Anja Breien

4. Anja Breien (b. 1940)

With an HPI of 51.44, Anja Breien is the 4th most famous Norwegian Film Director.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Anja Breien (born 12 July 1940) is a Norwegian film director and screenwriter. One of the leading figures of the Norwegian film industry, and one of the first women to rise to prominence as a writer-director in Norway, Breien's body of work in fiction and documentary explores social and political issues, notably women's rights within the context of Norwegian society.

Photo of Nils Gaup

5. Nils Gaup (b. 1955)

With an HPI of 50.04, Nils Gaup is the 5th most famous Norwegian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Nils Gaup (born 12 April 1955) is a Sámi film director from Norway.

Photo of Joachim Rønning

6. Joachim Rønning (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 47.75, Joachim Rønning is the 6th most famous Norwegian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Joachim Rønning (born 30 May 1972) is a Norwegian film director, producer, and writer best known for the Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated Kon-Tiki and the Disney action-adventure films Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales starring Johnny Depp and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil starring Angelina Jolie. Rønning's films have grossed more than 1.3 billion dollars at the box office. Rønning's most recent work is directing Disney's Young Woman and the Sea starring Daisy Ridley.

Photo of Espen Sandberg

7. Espen Sandberg (b. 1971)

With an HPI of 47.44, Espen Sandberg is the 7th most famous Norwegian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Espen Sandberg (born 2 June 1971) is a Norwegian film director and advertising producer, well known to work with his childhood friend and director Joachim Rønning on several projects such as Bandidas (2006), Max Manus: Man of War (2008), Kon-Tiki (2012) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017). He received a nomination at 85th Academy Awards as well as 70th Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film for directing 2012 movie Kon-Tiki with Rønning.

Photo of Tommy Wirkola

8. Tommy Wirkola (b. 1979)

With an HPI of 46.46, Tommy Wirkola is the 8th most famous Norwegian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Tommy Wirkola (born 6 December 1979) is a Norwegian filmmaker. He is known for his film work in hybrid thrillers that combine horror, action and satire. For his hybrid genre-focused work, he has won numerous awards and nominations. Dead Snow (2009) and Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (2014) were both selected by the Sundance Film Festival. Dead Snow won the Toronto Dark Film Festival Audience Award and was nominated for four Scream Awards including Best Horror Film. Dead Snow 2 won him Best Film at the Horror Film Festival, Best Director at the International Fantastic Film Festival and Best Screenplay as well as Best Film at Alamo Drafthouse's Fantastic Festival in 2014. What Happened to Monday was nominated for Variety's Piazza Grande Award at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2017. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Best Horror Film. Violent Night (2022) was nominated for Most Outstanding Stunt Performance at the ACTRA Awards as well as for Best Original Score at the International Film Music Critics Awards and at the Reel Music Film Festival.

Photo of André Øvredal

9. André Øvredal (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 44.15, André Øvredal is the 9th most famous Norwegian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

André Øvredal (Norwegian: [ɑnˈdreː ˈø̂ːvrədɑɫ]; born 6 May 1973) is a Norwegian film director and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the films Trollhunter (2010), The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016), Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) and The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023).

People

Pantheon has 9 people classified as Norwegian film directors born between 1940 and 1979. Of these 9, 9 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Norwegian film directors include Deeyah Khan, Morten Tyldum, and Bent Hamer. As of April 2024, 9 new Norwegian film directors have been added to Pantheon including Deeyah Khan, Morten Tyldum, and Bent Hamer.

Living Norwegian Film Directors

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Newly Added Norwegian Film Directors (2024)

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