Mini biography

Nicolas Winding Refn (September 29, 1970, Copenhagen, Denmark)

Nicolas Winding Refn was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1970. He moved with his parents at the age of 10 to New York, returning to Copenhagen at 17.

After graduating from high school, Refn attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, but found the environment unbearable and was quickly expelled.

Back in Denmark he was accepted by the Danish Film School but dropped out one month prior to the start of term.

“Art is an act of violence.”

Having caught a short film by Refn on an obscure cable TV, a Danish producer offered him 3.2 million Danish kroner to turn the short into a feature.

Thus at the age of 24, Refn found himself writing and directing his remarkable, hyper violent and uncompromising feature film debut: Pusher. Pusher became a cult phenomenon and won Refn instant international critical acclaim.

This spurred him to push the boundaries of his filmmaking further: the result was the close-to-the-edge, highly stylized and intricately gritty Bleeder, which premiered in selection at the 1999 Venice Film Festival.

Fear X, Refn’s third feature and his first in the English language, was eagerly awaited and had its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in 2003.

It thus came as a surprise that Refn would return to make films in the Danish language. In just one year, Refn wrote, directed and produced Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands and Pusher III: I’m the Angel of Death, thereby completing the now renowned Pusher trilogy which consolidated his international success.

In 2007 Refn was encouraged to direct an episode of BBC’s mammoth series, Miss Marple. The episode title was “Marple: Nemesis,” an adaptation of the final book in the series that led the Miss Marple character to deeper and darker extremes.

While Refn was preparing for his upcoming feature Valhalla Rising, he committed to another intriguing project, writing and directing Bronson, an ultra- violent, surrealistic and escapist film about one of England ́s most notorious criminals, Charles Bronson.

The film went on to have its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2009.

Director - Selected filmography

1. Copenhagen Cowboy (TV Series 2022–2023)
   
2. Only God Forgives (2013)
   
3. Drive (2011)
   
4. Valhalla Rising (2009)
   
5. Bronson (2008)
   
6. Pusher (1996)