One of our most flamboyant and innovative film-makers, Mark Anthony “Baz” Luhrmann was born in 1962 in Sydney and spent much of his youth in the rural NSW hamlet of Herron’s Creek, where his dad ran the local movie theatre and where Luhrmann was to learn his love of storytelling.
With ambitions of being an actor, a role in Winter of Our Dreams helped him secure a spot at NIDA, where he became more interested in film making and began developing his idea for his first big screen movie Strictly Ballroom.
The BAFTA winning Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Clare Danes, Moulin Rouge and the epic Australia are now known as The Red Curtain Trilogy, a trio of films that have marked Luhrmann as a director of worldwide note.
Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, is the second highest grossing Australian film of all time.
Luhrmann is currently working on a 3D remake of The Great Gatsby.
He is married to production designer Catherine Martin and they have two children.
Luhrmann is Ambassador for the Australian Theatre for Young People and patron for Flickerfest and the Sydney Film Festival.
This person has made the short list for the title National Living Treasure, this title is conferred when someone accomplishes an outstanding achievement, swelling the country’s consciousness with admiration, pride and acknowledgement... be they scientists or sports stars; actors, artists or Indigenous activists; politicians, philanthropists or explorers, The National Trust’s 2012 nominees are a true cross section of our country’s finest.
Click here to see the full nomination list and vote for your favourite.
