George Miller

Biography

A wildly imaginative Australian filmmaker, writer-director George Miller received critical and popular success in both live-action and animation over several decades. After life as a medical doctor, Miller rose to critical acclaim as a filmmaker, thanks to his post-apocalyptic action movie "Mad Max" (1979), starring a then-unknown Aussie actor named Mel Gibson.

But it was the much better sequel "The Road Warrior" (1980) that catapulted both director and star into international fame. From there, he directed Gibson in the studio-made sequel, "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome" (1985) and helmed the horror comedy "The Witches of Eastwick" (1987), starring Jack Nicholson as Satan lusting after three lonely women.

After producing "Flirting" (1991), Nicole Kidman's final Australian production before transitioning to Hollywood, Miller wrote and directed the acclaimed tearjerker "Lorenzo's Oil" (1992). He had one of his biggest critical and commercial hits with the endearing "Babe" (1995) and its equally delightful sequel "Babe: Pig in the City" (1996), before winning the Oscar for Best Animated Film for his box-office smash "Happy Feet" (2006).

Though he stumbled a bit with the inferior sequel "Happy Feet Two" (2011), Miller remained one of the more underappreciated, but successful filmmakers working in Hollywood.