BIOGRAPHY

Born on March 15th, 1959 in Riihimaki, Finland, Renny Harlin has established himself as one of Hollywood's most renowned filmmakers, both as a director and a producer with extraordinary vision whose work encompasses drama, comedy, action and suspense in both film and television. After directing the low budget, low-fare Born American in 1986, Harlin leaped into Hollywood productions with the chiller Prison (1988), yet compared to his later directorial efforts, that film was quite forgettable. However, his initial success came with a franchise picture. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master was the director's first success, which, at the time of its release in 1988, was the highest grossing independent film ever made. In  fact, this film outgrossed any of the previous and future sequels of the franchise.      In 1990, following that film's success, Harlin was given the opportunity to helm the much-anticipated Die Hard 2 sequel. The film was a box office smash and helped establish him as one of the finest action directors of all time. In 1993, he struck gold again with the Sylvester Stallone-starrer Cliffhanger, that ended up becoming one of the highest grossing films of 1993. Harlin made his debut as a producer in 1991 with the critically acclaimed drama Rambling Rose, which garnered several Oscar nominations. His credits as a producer includes the TV-movie courtroom drama Mistrial (1996) and the romantic comedy Blast from the Past (1999).      Harlin seemed to have hit a loosing streak when he began to team up with his then-wife Geena Davis on several film projects. Together with there production company, The Forge, they made the romantic comedy Speechless (1994), with Michael Keaton. The next year, they collaborated on the mega disaster Cutthroat Island (1995), and, in 1996, worked together on the criminally underrated, but financially disappointing action flick The Long Kiss Goodnight. Harlin wisely chose to return to making films which didn't capitalize on his gorgeous wife and next directed the eerie shark thriller Deep Blue Sea (1999), which earned respectable box office and critical reception.      As of late, Harlin reteamed with Stallone for the car-racing disaster Driven (2001) and returned to his roots with back-to-back horror films in the form of Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), in which he replaced original director Paul Schrader on the troubled production, and Mindhunters (2005), a film which was completed back in 2002 but unreleased for nearly three years.

FILMOGRAPHY

THE NORTHMEN (2005) MINDHUNTERS (2005) A SOUND OF THUNDER (2005) EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING (2004) DRIVEN (2001) DEEP BLUE SEA (1999) BLAST FROM THE PAST (1999) THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (1996) MISTRIAL (1996) CUTTHROAT ISLAND (1995) SPEECHLESS (1994) CLIFFHANGER (1993) RAMBLING ROSE (1991) THE ADVENTURES OF FORD FAIRLANE (1990) DIE HARD 2 (1990) PRISON (1988) A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER (1988) BORN AMERICAN (1986)

TRIVIA

HEIGHT: 6'4" (1.93m) SPOUSE: Geena Davis (September 1993 --  1998) (divorced) TRADEMARK: Includes references to Finland, his country of birth, in all his films. - Worked on Alien 3 (1992) for over a year and asked to leave the project after not being satisfied with any script and wanted to do something completely different, and the next day was offered The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990). - When he was starting out in Hollywood, he would travel via the city bus system with reels of his work to show studio executives. - Dating Sarah Thackray, a British journalist. [2001] - Dated former Miss Finland Tarja Smura. - Father of child born (in August 1997) to personal assistant, Tiffany Bowne who worked with the director of Cutthroat Island and The Long Kiss Goodnight.

TRIVIA

- Edited both his 1990 Fox films (Adventures of Ford Fairlane and Die Hard 2) at the same time. He had both films open one week apart that same year. - Was perhaps the first mainstream, American-based filmmaker to use Toronto for big-budget locational and shooting purposes (something that has become very commonplace for American films nowadays) with his film The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996).