Andrew Adamson
Born: 1st December 1966
Where: Auckland, New Zealand
A visual effects wizard, Adamson raised the animation bar with Shrek and also helmed the live action epic The Chronicles of Narnia.
His first movie credit was for Barry Levinson's Toys in 1992 before honing his skills on James Cameron's True Lies and baseball fantasy Angels In The Outfield.
He then worked as the visual effects supervisor on three movies for director Joel Schumacher. A Time to Kill came first, followed by Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, both of which saw his effects teams nominated for Oscars.
Adamson's directorial debut couldn't have been bigger. Captivating, laugh-out-loud funny and five years in the making, the animated fairytale Shrek turned out to be a monster hit.
A sequel was inevitable... and proved to be even more successful. Shrek 2 muscled its way into the all-time worldwide box office top ten, thanks to Adamson's contributions to both the screenwriting and directing efforts.
Disney showed their appreciation by handing him the reins on the first instalment of another potentially colossal family franchise: The Chronicles Of Narnia.
As a fan of CS Lewis' fantasy world since childhood, Adamson jumped at the chance to make his live-action (though effects-heavy) debut with The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.
Largely filmed in his native New Zealand, the children's epic has been likened to The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, directed by Adamson's fellow Kiwi Peter Jackson.
Adamson is flattered by the comparisons but, like the books, his movie is aimed towards children.
As a father-of-two (his second child was born during the Lion, Witch shoot), he particularly enjoyed working with his young stars, taking them for helicopter lessons on non-filming days.
But he is not a man to be pigeon-holed. Asked whether he envisioned directing the entire Narnia series, he said:
"I'm not saying no to a second, but certainly not for all seven. I wouldn't like to work on just two franchises [Shrek and Narnia] for the rest of my life."
