Peter Weir

Peter Weir
Weir in April 2011
Born	Peter Lindsay Weir (1944-08-21) 21 August 1944 (age 72) Sydney, Australia
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1967–present
Spouse(s)	Wendy Stites (m. 1966)
Children	Ingrid Weir (Born 1972), Julian Weir (Born 1976)

Peter Lindsay Weir, AM (/wɪər/; born 21 August 1944) is an Australian film director. He was a leading figure in the Australian New Wave cinema movement (1970-1990), with films such as the mystery drama Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), the supernatural thriller The Last Wave (1977) and the historical drama Gallipoli (1981). The climax of Weir's early career was the $6 million multi-national production The Year of Living Dangerously (1983).

After the success of The Year of Living Dangerously, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films covering most genres—many of them major box office hits—including the Academy Award nominated films such as the thriller Witness (1985), the drama Dead Poets Society (1989), the romantic comedy Green Card (1990), the social science fiction comedy-drama The Truman Show (1998) and the epic historical drama film Master and Commander (2003). For his work on these five films, Weir personally accrued six Academy Award nominations as either a director, writer or producer.

Weir was born in Sydney, the son of Peggy (née Barnsley) and Lindsay Weir, a real estate agent. Weir attended The Scots College and Vaucluse Boys' High School before studying arts and law at the University of Sydney. His interest in film was sparked by his meeting with fellow students, including Phillip Noyce and the future members of the Sydney filmmaking collective Ubu Films. After leaving university in the mid-1960s he joined Sydney television station ATN-7, where he worked as a production assistant on the groundbreaking satirical comedy program The Mavis Bramston Show. During this period, using station facilities, he made his first two experimental short films, Count Vim's Last Exercise and The Life and Flight of Reverend Buckshotte.