Graeme Neil Campbell (born November 4, 1954) is a Canadian film director, writer and editor.

Life and career

Campbell was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Quebec to William and Thelma Campbell. He has made films for television, including individual episodes and mini-series. He earned a BFA from Montreal's Concordia University. He has been writing and directing movies and television for over twenty years. He started off making documentaries, but got his first break with the controversial feature, '' Murder One'' released by Miramax in 1988; the film was being directed by screenwriter Fleming 'Tex' Fuller, however after one week of principal photography Fuller was fired and replaced by Campbell. Starring

Henry Thomas Henry Jackson Thomas Jr. (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and had a lead role in the film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), for which he won a Young Artist Award and received Golden Globe ...

, the film is an uncompromising portrayal of a horrific crime spree gone wrong. This led to another controversial true crime story, '' Deadly Betrayal: The Bruce Curtis Story'', for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

about the poisonous friendship between two teens. It caused Scott Watkins of the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

to write "Through the creative and brilliant direction of Graeme Campbell, the viewer is taken on a roller coaster ride through hell. Using flashbacks, tense courtroom drama and frighteningly vivid jail scenes, Campbell and cast tell a riveting story." Campbell's gift with actors is evident in such films as '' Unforgivable'' starring

John Ritter Johnathan Southworth Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American actor. Ritter was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. He is known for playing Jack Tripper on the ...

, "directed with a feeling for domestic Gothic by Graeme Campbell" according to Lynne Heffley of the LA Times. He has worked with some of the best actors in the business such as

George C. Scott George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American actor, director, and producer who had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, Scott became known for his port ...

, Elliot Page,

Rachel McAdams Rachel Anne McAdams (born November 17, 1978) is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre degree program at York University in 2001, she worked in Canadian television and film productions, such as the drama film ''Perfect Pie'' (200 ...

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpris ...

, Mercedes Ruehl, and Elisha Cuthbert among others. Although known in his early career for his handling of dark subject matter, he has directed films in many genres, lately many uplifting ones. He has a passion for music and music stories which has led to Out of Sync a musical comedy for

VH-1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communi ...

and nearly half of the episodes of

Instant Star ''Instant Star'' is a Canadian musical comedy-drama television series which aired from 15 September 2004 to 26 June 2008. The series starred Alexz Johnson as teenage singing competition winner Jude Harrison. The show chronicles Harrison's experi ...

for

The N The N (standing for Noggin) was a nighttime programming block on the Noggin television channel, aimed at preteens and teenagers. It was launched on April 1, 2002, by Viacom and Sesame Workshop. Before the block's introduction, Noggin's daytim ...

over the last four seasons. He won a Gemini Award for the episode "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and has been nominated for two others as well as two

Directors Guild of Canada The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) is a Canadian labour union representing more than 5,500 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. Founded in 1962, the DGC represents directors, editors, assist ...

Awards. Campbell has also written for and acted in the show. He credits his teenage children for keeping his worldview young; in keeping with this vein, he directed the two part Degrassi: The Next Generation special starring

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film '' Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, ...

. His four-hour mini series

Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...

recently aired on CBC, and his latest film "An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving" premiered at the

Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October ...

in October. Graeme Campbell lives in Toronto with his wife Gina, and two teenage children, Max and Emilie.

Filmography

* ''

The Best Years ''The Best Years'' is a Canadian drama television series about a group of college students at Charles University, a fictional Ivy League school in Boston, Massachusetts. It stars Charity Shea as Samantha Best, an orphan who lived in the foster ...

'' (2 episodes, 2009) * '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' (4 episodes, 2005–2008) * ''

An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving ''An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving'' is a television film loosely based on a short story by Louisa May Alcott. Filmed on location in Canada, the film premiered on Hallmark Channel on November 22, 2008. It was followed by the sequel, ''An Old Fashione ...

'' (2008) (TV) * ''

'' (14 episodes, 2005–2008) * ''

'' (2007) TV mini-series * '' Going for Broke'' (2003) (TV) * '' The Eleventh Hour'' (2002) TV series (1 episode, 2003) * ''

Strange Days at Blake Holsey High ''Strange Days at Blake Holsey High'' (also known as ''Black Hole High'') is a Canadian science fiction television series which first aired in North America in October 2002 on Global TV. It is set at the fictional boarding school of the title, wher ...

'' (2002) TV series (2 episodes, 2003) * ''Guilt by Association'' (2002) (TV) * '' Mutant X'' (2 episodes, 2001) * '' Dangerous Child'' (2001) (TV) * ''Out of Sync'' (2000) (TV) ... aka Lip Service (Australia) (USA: DVD title) * '' G-Saviour'' (1999) (TV) * ''At the Mercy of a Stranger'' (1999) (TV) * '' Twice in a Lifetime'' (1999) TV series (3 episodes, 1999) * ''Dooley Gardens'' (1999) TV series (1 episode, 1999) * ''Dream House'' (1998) (TV) * '' Nico the Unicorn'' (1998) * ''Volcano: Fire on the Mountain'' (1997) (TV) * ''

Country Justice ''Country Justice'' (also known as ''Family Rescue'') is a 1997 American made-for-television crime drama film starring Rachael Leigh Cook, George C. Scott, Ally Sheedy and Don Diamont. Plot Emma ( Rachael Leigh Cook) is a 15-year-old girl who ...

'' (1997) (TV) * '' Talk to Me'' (1996) (TV) * '' Unforgivable'' (1996) (TV) * '' The Outer Limits'' (1 episode, 1995) * ''Deadlocked: Escape from Zone 14'' (1995) (TV) * ''The Man in the Attic'' (1995) (TV) * '' Kung Fu: The Legend Continues'' (3 episodes, 1993–1994) * ''The Disappearance of Vonnie'' (1994) (TV) * '' Road to Avonlea'' (1 episode, 1993) * '' Ready or Not'' (4 episodes, 1993) * '' North of 60'' (1 episode, 1992) * ''

The Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

'' (1 episode, 1992) * ''

The Ray Bradbury Theater ''The Ray Bradbury Theater'' is an anthology series that ran for three seasons on First Choice Superchannel in Canada and HBO in the United States from 1985 to 1986, and then on USA Network, running for four additional seasons from 1988 to 19 ...

'' (1 episode, 1992) * '' Deadly Betrayal: The Bruce Curtis Story'' (Canadian title: ''Journey into Darkness'') (1991) (TV) * ''

Street Justice ''Street Justice'' is an American action crime drama series starring Carl Weathers and Bryan Genesse. The series began airing in syndication in 1991, and was canceled in 1993 after 2 seasons. Synopsis The series revolves around U.S. Army Speci ...

'' (1991) TV series (1 episode, 1991) * '' Into the Fire'' (1988) * ''Murder One'' (1988) * '' Blood Relations'' (1988) * ''Still Life'' (1988)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Graeme 1954 births Anglophone Quebec people Concordia University alumni Canadian Screen Award winners Living people Film directors from Montreal