Biography

Peter Chelsom is a member of the British Academy, the American Academy, The Directors Guild Of America, and The Writers Guild Of America. Peter was born in Blackpool in the North of England. He is a US and UK citizen. (Trivia: he is an Honorary Citizen of a small town in Tuscany, Italy, called Fivizzano). He trained at London's Central School of Drama and worked as an actor playing leading roles in TV, films, and in the theatre for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and the Royal Court Theatre. At 30, Peter became a film director/writer. His first film, Treacle, won a BAFTA nomination and invitations to festivals all over the world. His first full-length feature was the successful romantic comedy, Hear My Song (BAFTA nomination). The film is a wild and highly entertaining tale inspired by the life of the charismatic Irish tenor, Josef Locke, played in the film by Ned Beatty. Hear My Song was praised universally by critics and was a hugely optimistic crowd-pleaser. Princess Diana attended its Royal Premiere, and the Evening Standard British Film Awards awarded the film Best Newcomer. Peter's second feature was Funny Bones, a film about comedy. Made for Hollywood Pictures and starring Oliver Platt, Jerry Lewis, Leslie Caron, and newcomer Lee Evans, it once again won rave reviews in the States and the rest of the world. It won Best Picture at five European Film Festivals and the Peter Sellers Award for Comedy at the Evening Standard British Film Awards. Bigger, richer and darker than the first, it tells the story of two half brothers - one American and the other British - who will stop at nothing to get a laugh... even murder. His Hollywood films include The Mighty (two Golden Globe Nominations), the perennial Serendipity (John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale), Shall We Dance (Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez), which grossed $170m worldwide, The Space Between Us (Gary Oldman), Hector And The Search For Happiness (Simon Pegg, Rosamund Pike, Christopher Plummer, Toni Collette, Stellan Skarsgard, and Jean Reno), The Space Between Us (Gary Oldman, Asa Butterfield). Recently, he has made two films in Italy. The Italian language film - Security, which reached number 3 on Netflix Movies Worldwide (Marco D'Amore, Ludovica Martino, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Silvio Muccino) and A Sudden Case of Christmas (Danny DeVito). Peter is also known as a photographer, recently invited to exhibit his work at the Milan and Turin Photo Fairs.
- IMDb mini biography by: Craig Emanuel.

Peter Chelsom is a member of the British Academy, the American Academy, The Directors Guild Of America, and The Writers Guild Of America.

Peter was born in Blackpool in the North of England. He is a US and UK citizen. He is married with three sons. He trained at London's Central School of Drama and worked as an actor playing leading roles in TV, films, and in the theatre for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and the Royal Court Theatre.

At 30, Peter became a film director/writer. His first film, TREACLE, won a BAFTA nomination and invitations to festivals all over the world, including New York.

His first full-length feature was the successful romantic comedy, HEAR MY SONG. The film is a wild and highly entertaining tale inspired by the life of the charismatic Irish tenor, Josef Locke, played in the film by Ned Beatty. Locke disappeared in the late fifties to be secretly replaced by an imposter who passed himself off as the great man for thirty years. HEAR MY SONG was praised universally by critics and was a hugely optimistic crowd-pleaser. Princess Diana attended its Royal Premiere, and the Evening Standard British Film Awards awarded the film Best Newcomer.

Peter's second feature was FUNNY BONES, a film about comedy. Made for Hollywood Pictures and starring Oliver Platt, Jerry Lewis, Leslie Caron, Freddie Davies, and newcomer Lee Evans, it once again won rave reviews in the States and the rest of the world. It won Best Picture at five European Film Festivals. Bigger, richer and darker than the first, it tells the story of two half brothers - one American and the other British - who will stop at nothing to get a laugh... even murder.

Peter's third feature, THE MIGHTY, was based on the best-selling book, FREAK THE MIGHTY. It stars Sharon Stone, Gillian Anderson, Gena Rowlands, and Harry Dean Stanton. It received two Golden Globe Nominations.

Chelsom followed with TOWN AND COUNTRY and SERENDIPITY, which grossed $52m at the US Box Office. His next film, SHALL WE DANCE, starred Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Susan Sarandon, and Stanley Tucci. The film grossed $170m worldwide.

His next film, HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS, had its US Premiere in a special presentation at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. It was distributed by Relativity Media, and the cast included Simon Pegg, Rosamund Pike, Christopher Plummer, Toni Collette, Stellan Skarsgard, and Jean Reno. It is the story of a disillusioned psychiatrist traveling the world to research what makes people happy.

Chelsom's latest film, THE SPACE BETWEEN US, will open on August 19th, 2016. It stars Gary Oldman, Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson, and Carla Gugino. It tells the story of the first boy to be born on Mars. A love story wrapped in sci-fi.
- IMDb mini biography by: Peter Chelsom

2009 made Honorary Citizen Of Fivizzano, Italy.

He directed over 50 commercials in London and America.

He initially trained as a photographer before winning a place at London's Central School of Drama. For 10 years he worked as an actor with leading roles with the RSC and the Royal Court before turning to directing and ran the Film and TV course at the Central School of Drama.

His first short Treacle won him a BAFTA nomination.

[on Town & Country (2001)] I could have gone down if Serendipity (2001) hadn't already been in the can. Like a lot of films, it didn't totally work - though I think the original script worked better than the final film, unfortunately. Diane Keaton used to say to me, daily, "You are never, ever going to have an experience as bad as this ever again." She acknowledged it to be the worst Hollywood experience she'd ever had. I consider it my greatest achievement - surviving it.

[on Hollywood] You either make desperately commercial movies or films which feel more like Oscar campaigns than movies. In the old days you made good films and a by-product was that they got nominated.

[on The Mighty (1998)] It hurts the most. I'm so proud of that film but it did nothing.