Stefan Schwartz (born 1 May 1963) is an English and Canadian film and television director, writer and actor,The New York TimesLovefilm.com most known for the feature film Shooting FishIndiewire.com and his work on the BBC's Spooks and Luther, AMC's The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead, as well as The Americans and The Boys. He is also the creator of Talking Scripts with business partner Idris Elba, an iOS app that reads film and TV scripts using different voices for the characters.
Career
1992–2007 He directed his feature film debut Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1992), starring Peter Capaldi and Phyllis Logan, which won two BAFTAs in Scotland and the London Film Festival's prestigious audience award.A, G. "Soft Top, Hard Shoulder". Time Out. Retrieved 29 December 2013. Building on this success in 1995, he directed Giving Tongue, shown as part of BBC2′s Wicked Women series,https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116419/ and in 1997 wrote and directed Shooting Fish, a crime-caper comedy starring Kate Beckinsale, which won several awards and made over $20 million worldwide.Alexander Walker, Icons in the Fire: The Rise and Fall of Practically Everyone in the British Film Industry 1984-2000, Orion Books, 2005 p273
He then signed a three-year deal to write and direct for Miramax and wrote screenplays for them, teaming up with notable producers such as Lawrence Bender and Jennifer and Suzanne Todd before directing The Abduction Club (2002) for Pathe Films.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264333/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_29
His next film as writer/director was the romantic comedy The Best Man starring Stuart Townsend, Amy Smart and Seth Green in 2005.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430919/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_28
2007–2015
After finishing Being Human for Syfy, Stefan directed some episodes of the final season of House and worked in New York on White Collar. He then went back to Showtime for another episode of Dexter.
In autumn 2012, he worked in Paris with Jean Reno on the series Jo, before travelling to Atlanta to shoot The Walking Dead.
In early 2013, he directed the mid-season finale of ABC's hit show Revenge, then went back to work on the final season of Dexter.
AMC then invited him to direct Low Winter Sun in Detroit before heading back to New York to shoot the season opener of White Collar. From there he went to Pittsburgh to direct Chloë Sevigny and James D'Arcy in Those Who Kill, and then to South Africa to shoot the first episode of the second season of Black Sails for Starz.
In 2014, he started the year in New York working on The Americans, then worked with Diane Kruger on The Bridge. He won the OFTA Award for Best Direction in a Drama Series for his work on The Walking Dead.
In the summer of 2014, he completed an episode of the new Starz series Flesh and Bone, set in the world of ballet and written by Adam Rapp and Moira Walley-Beckett, followed by an episode of Power.
2015–2018 In 2015, Stefan returned to Cape Town to shoot two new episodes of Black Sails directing some of the most complex action/VFX sequences on television at that time. In the same year, he also directed the season 1 finale of Fear the Walking Dead in Los Angeles, before crossing the country to direct episode 4 of season 4 of The Americans in New York. He finished out the year with the season finale of NOS4A2, and episodes of the Suits spin-off Pearson and Netflix’s Nightflyers.
2019-2023 He directed two episodes of season 2 of The Boys and was executive producer and pilot director of Fortunate Son, followed by episodes of Apple TV's Suspicion. He was also executive producer/director of The Mosquito Coast. He completed work on Amazon'sMy Lady Jane.
2024-2026 Having shot Star City for Apple TV he is currently directing The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Filmography
Film Year Title Director Writer Notes 1990 The Lake Short film 1992 Soft Top, Hard Shoulder 1996 Giving Tongue Television film 1997 Shooting Fish 2002 The Abduction Club 2005 The Best Man 2020 About Us
Television
As director Year Title Notes 2007 Hustle 2 episodes Spooks 2 episodes 2008-09 Crash 7 episodes 2009 Trial & Retribution 1 episode 2010 Luther 2 episodes 2011 Camelot 3 episodes, also co-executive producer 5 episodes 2011-13 Dexter 3 episodes 2012 Being Human 2 episodes House 1 episode 2012-13 White Collar 2 episodes 2013 Jo 2 episodes, Miniseries The Walking Dead 1 episode Revenge 1 episode Low Winter Sun 1 episode 2014 Those Who Kill 1 episode The Bridge 1 episode 2014-18 The Americans 4 episodes 2015 Flesh and Bone 1 episode, Miniseries 2015-16 Black Sails 3 episodes 2015-17 Fear the Walking Dead 6 episodes 2015-18 Power 3 episodes 2018 Nightflyers 1 episode 2019 NOS4A2 1 episode Pearson 1 episode 2019-20 The Boys 2 episodes 2020 Fortunate Son 4 eps, pilot Director, Executive Producer 8 eps 2021 Suspicion 3 episodes 2021-22The Mosquito Coast 2 eps, Executive Producer 10 eps 2022-23My Lady Jane 3 episodes2024 The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,2 episodes2026Star City2 episodes
As actor Year Title Role Notes 1986 Strong Medicine Pete Television film 1987 Inspector Morse Richard Bartlett 1989 The Bill Clive Doctor Who Knight Commander 1990 Portrait of a Marriage Phillip 1990-91 Screen Two Nicholas Hart, Tim 2 episodes
References
External links