CATHERINE HARDWICKE

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A prolific art director and production designer in the 1980s and 1990s, Catherine Hardwicke made an impressive leap to the director?s chair with 2003?s harrowing ?Thirteen.? Inspired by the turbulent life of an ex-boyfriend?s teenage daughter, the indie drama about a young girl?s descent into a dangerous lifestyle was widely praised by critics and audiences alike for its gritty honesty. Hardwicke followed this with ?Lords of Dogtown? (2005), an unsentimental look at teen skateboarders in the early eighties. In 2008, she tackled the biggest project of her directorial career with ?Twilight,? a Gothic romance about a schoolgirl?s budding relationship with a young, brooding vampire. Despite the fantastical nature of the subject matter, Hardwicke brought her trademark realism to the project; a combination that was the key to her status as one of Hollywood?s most challenging and independent-minded directors. Born in the border town of McAllen, TX on Oct. 21, 1955, Hardwicke studied art in Mexico and received her degree in architecture from the University of Texas at Austin. Among her post-graduation projects was a 20-acre solar townhouse complex built around a manmade lake, complete with waterfalls and swimming pools. Despite her success in her chosen field, she saw her true calling in film, so she relocated to Los Angeles to study at UCLA. While there, she directed her first film ? a short called ?Puppy Does the Gumbo? ? which combined live action and animation. The project won her a Nissan Focus Award and led to a lengthy career as an art director. She eventually became a production designer, lending her talents to a wealth of low-budget and independent features, including the cult favorites ?Tapeheads? (1988), ?I?m Gonna Get You Sucka? (1988), ?Freaked? (1993) and ?Tank Girl? (1996). She also served as second unit director on fellow Lone Star filmmaker Richard Linklater?s feature, ?Suburbia? (1996). By the late 1990s, Hardwicke had moved up to Hollywood features like ?2 Days in the Valley? (1996), ?Three Kings? (1999), ?Vanilla Sky? (2001) and ?Laurel Canyon? (2002). Collaborating with such successful independent directors as David O. Russell, Cameron Crowe and Lisa Cholodenko would later have a significant impact on Hardwicke?s own directorial efforts, with Russell?s work on ?Three Kings? cited by Hardwicke for its emotional intensity. In 2002, she began formulating an idea for a script that would eventually become her first project as a director.