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 of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. His parents were born in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. He credits his early interest in cinema to

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

, saying "When my mother told me he's

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, and he goes to

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

, 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 The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

grandparents, survivors of

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

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 area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

as an exchange student at

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art school 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 the ...

. 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. (simply known as Imageworks) is a visual effects and computer animation studio headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and Montreal, Quebec, with an additional office on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver C ...

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 became recognized as a classic in children's literature. ''Stuart Little'' was illustrated by the artist Garth Williams, also his f ...

'', '' The ChubbChubbs!'' and ''

Stuart Little 2 ''Stuart Little 2'' is a 2002 American live-action/animated comedy film loosely based on E.B. White's novel ''Stuart Little''. Directed by Rob Minkoff and screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin, the film stars Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, and Jonathan ...

''. He later worked as second unit director on Disney's ''

The Haunted Mansion The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride, 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 s ...

''. In 2009, he directed '' Hotel for Dogs'' for

DreamWorks Pictures DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG and commonly referred to as DreamWorks) is an American film studio and Film distribution, distribution label of Amblin Partners. It was originally founded on October 12, 1994, as a live-action a ...

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

Diary of a Wimpy Kid ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' is an American illustrated children's novel series and media franchise created by American author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney. The series follows Greg Heffley, a middle-schooler who illustrates his daily life in a dia ...

'', based on the book by

Jeff Kinney Jeffrey Patrick Kinney (born February 19, 1971) is an American author and illustrator. He is best known for creating, writing and illustrating the children's book series ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid''. He also created the child-oriented website '' Po ...

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 and

Taylor Russell Taylor Russell McKenzie (born July 18, 1994) is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. After playing a number of minor roles, Russell received recognition for starring in the Netflix science fiction series ''Lost in Space (2018 TV series), Lost in Spac ...

, about a teenager struggling with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

; the film was well-reviewed. Freudenthal has also directed multiple episodes of ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

'' and one episode of ''

The Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...

.''

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