Justin Chadwick

Justin Chadwick is an award-winning British theatre, television and film director, and has most recently directed Tulip Fever, a feature film adapted by Sir Tom Stoppard, starring Christoph Waltz, Dane DeHaan and Judi Dench.

He is currently the lead director of Shardlake, based on CJ Sansom’s bestselling novels, for Disney+.

Justin recently directed the lead block of the series Becoming Elizabeth for Starz. Before this, Justin directed episodes of Tin Star starring Tim Roth for Sky as well as directing and executive producing all of Next Of Kin for ITV.

Justin’s first feature film was the highly acclaimed The Other Boleyn Girl starring Eric Bana, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, which premiered at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival. He then directed The First Grader, produced by Origin Pictures for BBC Films and the UK Film Council, starring Naomi Harris. The film won numerous awards including the Audience Award at Durban International Film Festival, the Audience Prize for Best Film at Doha Tribeca Film Festival, both Best Director’s Choice and Audience Choice Awards at the Sedona Film Festival, and Best Feature Film at the Palm Beach Film Festival 2010. It also came second place for the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010. Justin went on to direct the 2011 BAFTA nominated Stolen for BBC, starring Damien Lewis, and the short film Boy, starring Timothy Spall, for the 2012 London Olympics. He then directed the BAFTA-nominated Nelson Mandela biopic, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, starring Idris Elba and Naomi Harris.

Coming from a background in acting, Justin made his directorial debut in theatre with award-winning productions such as Moliere’s Hypochondriac at the Assembly Rooms during the Edinburgh Festival, leading to his television debut in 1993, Family Style, a television movie starring Ewan McGregor. This was followed by a series entitled Shakespeare Shorts, exploring the history of Shakespearean characters, something which Justin both directed and appeared in. He then directed episodes of Eastenders, Byker Grove, The Bill, Spooks, and set up two television series: Red Cap and Murder Prevention. Justin’s biggest television success then followed in Bleak House, a miniseries he initiated, and of which he directed nine of fifteen episodes. Broadcast in the UK by the BBC, and by PBS in the USA, the programme won the Best Drama Serial award at the British Academy Television Awards in 2006. It was also nominated for two Golden Globes, three Satellite Awards, and won at the Royal Television Society Awards, the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, and the Television Critics Awards. Justin himself was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special, as well as the Royal Society Award for Breakout Performance Behind the Scenes and the BAFTA Award for Best Direction.