Peter Jackson is one of the most famous movie directors of all time, who gained his biggest fame and millions of fans as a director and a producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The big success of these films based on J.R.R.Tolkien novels together with his other works, brought him dozens of awards and respect of the film industry. His estimated net worth is $130 million.
Early years
He was born as Peter Robert Jackson on October 31, 1961 in Wellington in New Zealand. He has spent his childhood in a small town named Pukerua Bay, raised as an only child of his loving parents Billy and Joan Jackson.
Both of his parents immigrated there from England. His mother Joan found work as a factory employee and his father William Jackson (nicknamed Bill) was a factory clerk.
His father Bill was a very honest and a brave man, and also a World War II veteran who was one of thousands of soldiers included in the siege of Malta.
As long as Peter remembers he was always a big fan of movies, sometimes even obssesed.
Most of his childhood movies were films made by Ray Harryhausen films but he was also a big admirer of one of the most popilar British TV series called Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
One of family’s friends noticed his great interest for films and decided to motivate him in this area by giving him a camera as a gift.
This opened a whole new world to Peter who started filming his family and making short movies with the help of his friends.
His favourite movie if all time was King Kong and he was not even ten years old when he started doing the remake of this movie.
He tried filming a few more movies as a kid: “The Dwarf Patrol” which was a remake of a WWII event, and a film based on James Bond’s Goldfinger.
The best movie from his young youth was “The Valley” because he showed some special directors skills in it and it even brought him a prize.
All through his elementary and high school education Peter never showed any interest in sports. Movies and his camera were the only two things he was interested in.
All the knowledge he gained about film-making and other things important for movies, such as special effects and costumes, he learned by himself.
He tried the same stuff a lot of times until he nailed it by learning out of his own mistakes.
He was an older teenager when he watched “Lord of The Rings” adaptation from 1978 (directed by Ralph Bakshi and made in a peculiar animated version).
He learned about J. R. R. Tolkien and was thrilled by his fantasy novels.
Since he had no interest in educating himself in science or some other school subject, he decided to quit school when he was 16, at the age when he could start working.
He looked for work and finally found ut in the position of a photo-engraver in The Evening Post. He worked there for quite a long time, around seven years, but it wasn’t his dream job.
Career development
He worked as an engraver and lived with his parents only to suceed in his goal: he wanted to save money, more the better, to buy a very expensive professional 16mm camera in order to shoot his first serious film.
This film was named “Bad Taste” and it was the film that started his career.
In the following paragraph you can read something about the movies and the directors that influenced him in his work.
Jackson was a big fan of the following films: Martin Scorsese’s film Goodfellas, a hit movie King Kong and a movie from the 70’s named “Waterloo”. He also liked George Romero (a movie scenarist known for “Night of the Living Dead”) and Sam Raimi (known film maker known for the Spiderman trilogy).
In 1987 he released his first long movie and it was titled “Bad Taste”. It was a sci-fi horror film with elements of comedy about aliens on New Zealand. The main actors were Terry Potter and Pete O’Herne.
Two years later, in 1987, he directed “Meet the Feebles” which was really a musical comedy film garnished with elements of black comedy. Mark Hadlow and Peter Vere-Jones starred in this 97 long movie with a budget of $750,000.
Another of his interesting movies was “Braindead” from 1992 which was a splastick comedy horror film with a bigger budget of $3 million.
Peter wrote the screenplay and directed it and Jim Booth produced it.
The movie that brought a little more attention on him and led to the moment when he and his partner Fran Walsh were both nominated for Academy Award for Best Original was “Heavenly Creatures”.
This movie opened him a door to the center of film industry.
Peter Jackson is one of the most famous movie directors of all time, who gained his biggest fame and millions of fans as a director and a producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The big success of these films based on J.R.R.Tolkien novels together with his other works, brought him dozens of awards and respect of the film industry.
He was born as Peter Robert Jackson on October 31, 1961in Wellington in New Zealand. He has spent his childhood in a small town named Pukerua Bay.
Both of his parents immigrated there from England. His mother Joan found work as a factory employee and his father William Jackson (nicknamed Bill) was a factory clerk.
His father Bill was a very honest and a brave man, and also a World War II veteran who was one of thousands of soldiers included in the siege of Malta.
As long as Peter remembers he was always a big fan of movies, sometimes even obssesed.
Most of his childhood movies were films made by Ray Harryhausen films but he was also a big admirer of one of the most popilar British TV series called Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
One of family’s friends noticed his great interest for films and decided to motivate him in this area by giving him a camera as a gift.
This opened a whole new world to Peter who started filming his family and making short movies with the help of his friends.
His favourite movie if all time was King Kong and he was not even ten years old when he started doing the remake of this movie.
He tried filming a few more movies as a kid: “The Dwarf Patrol” which was a remake of a WWII event, and a film based on James Bond’s Goldfinger.
The best movie from his young youth was “The Valley” because he showed some special directors skills in it and it even brought him a prize.
All through his elementary and high school education Peter never showed any interest in sports. Movies and his camera were the only two things he was interested in.
All the knowledge he gai ed about film-making and other things important for movies, such as special effects and costumes, he learned by himself.
He tried the same stuff a lot of times until he nailed it by learning out of his own mistakes.
He was an older teenager when he watched “Lord of The Rings” adaptation from 1978 (directed by Ralph Bakshi and made in a peculiar animated version).
He learned about J. R. R. Tolkien and was thrilled by his fantasy novels.
Since he had no interest in educating himself in science or some other school subject, he decided to quit school when he was 16, at the age when he could start working.
He looked for work and finally found ut in the position of a photo-engraver in The Evening Post.
He worked there for quite a long time, around seven years, but it wasn’t his dream job. He worked as an engraver and lived with his parents only to suceed in his goal: he wanted to save money, more the better, to buy a very expensive professional 16mm camera in order to shoot his first serious film.
This film was named “Bad Taste” and it was the film that started his career.
In the following paragraph you can read something about the movies and the directors that influenced him in his work.
Jackson was a big fan of the following films: Martin Scorsese’s film Goodfellas, a hit movie King Kong and a movie from the 70’s named “Waterloo”. He also liked George Romero (a movie scenarist known for “Night of the Living Dead”) and Sam Raimi (known film maker known for the Spiderman trilogy).
In 1987 he released his first long movie and it was titled “Bad Taste”. It was a sci-fi horror film with elements of comedy about aliens on New Zealand. The main actors were Terry Potter and Pete O’Herne.
Two years later, in 1987, he directed “Meet the Feebles” which was really a musical comedy film garnished with elements of black comedy. Mark Hadlow and Peter Vere-Jones starred in this 97 long movie with a budget of $750,000.
Another of his interesting movies was “Braindead” from 1992 which was a splastick comedy horror film with a bigger budget of $3 million.
Peter wrote the screenplay and directed it and Jim Booth produced it.
The movie that brought a little more attention on him and led to the moment when he and his partner Fran Walsh were both nominated for Academy Award for Best Original was “Heavenly Creatures”.
This movie opened him a door to the center of film industry. He received three Oscars and won one Oscar for the best director in 2004.
The success of this movie intrigued an American movie company named Miramax who contracted Jackson for some of their In 2010, he was knighted by the Governer of New Zealand as a big contributor for the country and for his work in the film industry.
He received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.
His best and most notable work is his work on “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy which was filmed from 2001 to 2003 and later “The Hobbit” trilogy which was filmed from 2012 to 2014.
All of these movies were adaptex by J. R. R. Tolkien novels.
The Frighteners, from 1996, was first Peter’s film made in Hollywood with a big movie star Michael J. Fox in the main role.
Although the film’s main place of action was in a town in North America, Jackson has filmed it entirely in New Zealand.
This film wasn’t a success and it gained poor critics and even led to Peter Jackson’s legal lawsuit against one New Zealand’s magazine whose writers stated that Peter stole ideas from other films.
Peter Jackson scheduled a meeting with Saul Zaentz, a producer who decided to let Jackson the rights for making Lord of The Rings trilogy.
Although Peter originally thought msking the movie with MiraMax production the film was eventually made by New Line Cinema.
It took them over one year of shooting all over New Zealand but it was worth it because the series gained tremendous success worldwide.
“The Return of the King” was one of the series which gained extremely high critical acclaim and won eleven Oscars. Peter won an Oscar for Best Director.
Peter suffered a big emotional trauma just a few days before the release of the first movie named “The Fellowship of the Ring” – his mother Joan he loved very much died.
Peter Jackson was overweight for a long period of time but after he filmed “The Return of the King” he changed his diet and lost over 25 kgs.
He claims that he was tired of being overweight and not be able to walk or run so he decided it was time to change his regular diet.
In 2006 it seemed that Peter Jackson will not direct the making of The Hobbit since his own production company named Wingnut Films was in legal dispute with the New Line Cinema.
But at the end they have settled their disagreement and Peter became involved in making of “The Hobbit” but not as a director but as a writer and executive producer.
It was decided that the movie will be directed by Guillermo del Toro directing.
In 2010 Guillermo del Toro decided to quit and Peter was the first choice to change him at the place of director.
He also owns a company specialized in the restoration and manufacture of airplanes called The Vintage Aviator.
Peter Jackson had a leading role in his first movie “Bad Taste” where he plays two roles.
He plays himself in the movie “Forgotten Silver”. He has a lot of cameo roles in a lot if his movies.
He has a son named Billy (who is his eldest son born in 1995). Billy appeared in cameo roles in all of his father’s films since he was born.
In 1966, his daughter Katie was born and she also appeares in almost all this films.
He appeared in the role of himself in Doctor Who 50th anniversary series.
Personal life
Peter Jackson is known for his big involvment in charity causes. He has donated half a million dollars to health research in New Zealand.
One of his biggest investements in Wellington was when he purchased a church to save it from runining.
He donates to theatres, schools and other important structures in New Zealand.
He is a big fan of World War II memorabilia which he collects for years and even lends his collection to museums.
He has bought a big piece of land in Wairarapa, with a big mansion and a lake.
In 2009 he bought his own jet.
Peter is in a long relationship with Fran Walsh, who is a very creative screenwriter and a producer from New Zealand.
She worked alongside Peter on all of his films and due to her great work on film she gained three Oscars: Fran received an Oscar for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Original Song for “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”.
He is a big fan of 60’s music, especially The Beatles and he used their music in his films.
In 2001 he and his partner Fran both received an honorary graduation from New Zealand’s University. In 2002 he was listed in “Man of the Year 2002” list in the Empire Magazine.
He has undergone an eye surgery in 2005 so he no longer have to use glasses.
Quick summary
Full name: Peter Robert Jackson
Date of birth: October 31, 1961
Birthplace: Wellington, New Zealand
Age: 57
Profession: director, producer, screenwriter, actor
Height: NA
Weight: NA
Net Worth: $130 million
