Baltasar Kormákur is a well accomplished Icelandic actor, producer, and director with a career of almost 30 years.

His works cover a vast range of areas, from theatre to movies and television. Born in Reykjavik, the 53-year-old director graduated as an actor from Iceland's National Academy of Fine Arts in 1990. Soon after his graduation, he signed for the National Theatre of Iceland, where he worked as a leading performer for seven years. Besides his work as an actor at the National Theatre, Kormákur also directed and produced many independent stage productions.

In 2000, Baltasar Kormákur made his debut in directing. His first feature film 101 Reykjavik, based on a novel by Hallgrímur Helgason, became an international success and earned the Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. He wrote, directed and acted in the movie. His following movies such as The Sea (2002), A Little Trip to Heaven (2005), Jar City (2006) and White Night Wedding (2008) were all very successful in Iceland and won many international awards.

In 2012 Kormákur directed and co-produced the movie Contraband, starring Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, and Kate Beckinsale, a remake of the Icelandic film “Reykjavik-Rotterdam”. That same year The Deep premiered in Iceland and took in over 50% of the country’s box office receipts. The movie, originally Djúpið, also took home a record number of Edda Awards (11 in total), including the big categories like Best Film of the Year, Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Most recently, the director has directed and co-produced Adrift, the 2018 drama starring Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin.

Baltasar Kormákur created his own production company Blueeyes Productions in 1999 in order to focus solely on feature film writing, producing and directing. The company is now integrated into RVK Studios, with Kormákur as the company director and chairman of the board.