Ian Sharp

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Ian Sharp (born in Clitheroe, Lancashire on 13th November, 1946) is a British film and television director.

Sharp was educated at Queen Elizabeth School, Blackburn and Durham University where he gained an honours degree in Psychology and Modern Philosophy. During the seventies, he worked at the BBC making documentaries first for the General Features Department and then for Music and Arts, notably Arena and Omnibus. In 1978 the BBC gave him 3 months sabbatical to make a movie called The Music Machine, and it was this experience that fired his ambition to turn to film drama.

His first break came in 1980 with the ITV comedy series Minder. That was quickly followed by The Professionals, and he made a total of 6 films for those two series. Shortly after that, in 1981, he directed his first full feature movie, Who Dares Wins, for MGM/UA. Next came the first six episodes of Robin of Sherwood for ITV, and the ensuing few years consisted of mainly television work until Robert Zemeckis asked him to direct second unit on Who Framed Roger Rabbit starring Bob Hoskins.

In 1994 Martin Campbell asked him to direct the action scenes for Goldeneye, starring Pierce Brosnan. His tank chase sequence and the daring dam jump which opens the picture are still much respected in the industry.

Ian speaks fluent French and German and lives in North London with his wife, the broadcaster and author Sue Cook.