Thor Freudenthal (; born 20 October 1972) is a German film director, screenwriter, animator and special effects artist best known for his work on ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' and '' Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters''.

Life and career

Freudenthal was raised in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. His parents were born in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. He credits his early interest in cinema to Steven Spielberg, saying "When my mother told me he's

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, and he goes to synagogue, it was like, 'My God, we're of the same tribe, and he's a huge hero of mine.' And then seeing the '' Schindler movie'' actually made me feel more secure in who I was myself." His family's connection to Spielberg became real when his Polish-Jewish grandparents, survivors of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

who had known Schindler personally, were asked to appear in the final scene of the movie. Freudenthal attended the Hochschule der Künste Berlin, and later moved to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

as an exchange student at

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

. He started out as an animation director, and found success as a director in his first live-action film, ''Motel'', which played at Sundance Film Festival in 2005. He also worked on conceptal/visual art work at

Sony Pictures Imageworks Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. is a Canadian visual effects and computer animation studio headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with an additional office on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California. SPI is a unit of Sony Pi ...

on films like ''

Stuart Little ''Stuart Little'' is a 1945 American children's novel by E. B. White. It was White's first children's book, and it is now widely recognized as a classic in children's literature. ''Stuart Little'' was illustrated by the subsequently award-winnin ...

'', ''

The ChubbChubbs! ''The ChubbChubbs!'' is a 2002 American computer-animated short film by Sony Pictures Imageworks. It was directed by Eric Armstrong, produced by Jacquie Barnbrook, and written by Jeff Wolverton. ''The ChubbChubbs!'' won the Academy Award for Be ...

'' and '' Stuart Little 2''. He later worked as second unit director on Disney's ''

The Haunted Mansion The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride attraction located at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland. The haunted house attraction features a ride-through tour in Omnimover vehicles called "Doom Buggies", and a walk-through show is display ...

''. In 2009, he directed ''

Hotel for Dogs ''Hotel for Dogs'' (1971) is a children's novel by Lois Duncan. It was adapted into a film of the same name by Nickelodeon Movies for DreamWorks Pictures, released on January 16, 2009. When the book was originally released in 1971, Andi's name ...

'' for

DreamWorks Pictures DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG and formerly DreamWorks Studios, commonly referred to as DreamWorks) is an American film company and distribution label of Amblin Partners. It was originally founded on October 12, 1994 as a liv ...

. He directed the live-action/animated feature film, ''

Diary of a Wimpy Kid ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' is an American children’s book series and media franchise created by author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney. The series follows Greg Heffley, a middle-schooler who illustrates his daily life in a diary (although he const ...

'', based on the book by

Jeff Kinney Jeffrey Patrick Kinney (born February 19, 1971) is an American author and cartoonist, best known for the children's book series ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid''. He also created the child-oriented website '' Poptropica''. Early life Jeff Kinney was bor ...

and in 2013 he directed '' Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters''. In 2019, he was reported to have signed on to direct upcoming Gotham Group series Skywatchers. In 2020, he directed '' Words on Bathroom Walls'', a drama film starring

Charlie Plummer Charlie Faulkner Plummer is an American actor. Plummer began his career as a child actor in short films before appearing on the television dramas ''Boardwalk Empire'' and ''Granite Flats.'' In 2019, he starred in the Hulu miniseries '' Looking fo ...

and

Taylor Russell Taylor Russell McKenzie (born July 18, 1994) is a Canadian actress. She has starred in the Netflix science fiction series ''Lost in Space'' (2018–2021). In film, she has starred in the critically acclaimed drama ''Waves'' (2019), for which she ...

, about a teenager struggling with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

; the film was well-reviewed. Freudenthal has also directed multiple episodes of '' Arrow'' and one episode of '' The Flash.''

Filmography

Film

Television

Short films

Other credits

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freudenthal, Thor 1972 births Jewish American screenwriters German emigrants to the United States Mass media people from Berlin Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century German Jews Living people German people of Israeli descent German people of Jewish descent German people of Polish-Jewish descent 21st-century American Jews