PAUL HAGGIS, Film director, screenwriter, and producer

Born in London, Ontario, Paul Haggis is an award-winning filmmaker. In 2006, Haggis became the first screenwriter in Oscar history to have written back-to-back Best Picture winners, for 2005’s Million Dollar Baby, directed by Clint Eastwood, and 2006’s Crash, which Haggis himself directed. For Crash, Haggis won Academy Awards for both Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Haggis’ other screenplays include Flags of our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima and two James Bond films (Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace), as well as In the Valley of Elah, The Next Three Days, and Third Person, all three of which he directed. For over two decades he has written, directed, and produced television shows such as Walker, Texas Ranger, The Tracey Ullman Show, and Thirtysomething, for which he won two Emmys. Most recently, Haggis directed all six episodes of the HBO mini-series Show Me a Hero. Haggis was honored with the prestigious Ian McClellan Hunter Award for Career Achievement by the Writers Guild of America. Equally committed to his private and social concerns, Haggis is the founder of Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ), which is committed to providing education, healthcare, and dignity to the poorest children of Haiti. His work with APJ provides thousands of aspiring Haitians hope for the future. He currently resides in New York.