Who is George Miller?
George Miller is an Australian filmmaker, born in Queensland in 1945, best known for creating the Mad Max films. He trained and worked as a medical doctor before turning to filmmaking.
Miller grew up in Chinchilla, Queensland, the son of Greek immigrants. He studied medicine at the University of New South Wales and worked as a doctor in Sydney hospitals, where he saw victims of road accidents.
With producer Byron Kennedy, he made Mad Max in 1979, a low-budget action film that became a global hit. The series continued with Mad Max 2, Beyond Thunderdome, Fury Road and Furiosa.
Beyond Mad Max
Miller also produced and co-wrote Babe, and directed its sequel, Babe: Pig in the City. He won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Happy Feet in 2007, about a dancing penguin.
Fury Road earned him Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Picture and is widely regarded as one of the greatest action films ever made, released when Miller was 70.
His production company, now called Kennedy Miller Mitchell, has made films and television in Australia for decades, including the miniseries The Dismissal and Bodyline. Byron Kennedy died in a helicopter crash in 1983, and the Byron Kennedy Award honours innovation in Australian film.
Did You Know?
Miller also directed Lorenzo's Oil, a 1992 drama about parents searching for a cure for their son's rare disease.