Filmmaker
Susanne Bier is an Academy Award®, Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award-winning writer and director whose work often plays out against a wide-reaching global backdrop, while maintaining an intimate focus that carefully explores the explosive emotions and complexities of familial bond.
Bier directed the Warner Bros. romantic fantasy “Practical Magic 2,” starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. The highly anticipated sequel to the beloved cult classic will be released in theaters on September 11, 2026.
Bier’s recent Netflix limited series “The Perfect Couple” starred Nicole Kidman, Dakota Fanning, Liev Schreiber and Eve Hewson. Adapted from Elin Hildebrand’s global best-selling murder-mystery book of the same name, the series centers on a young woman whose marriage into Nantucket’s wealthy Winbury family is thrown into disarray when a body is found on the beach and secrets are revealed, making everyone a suspect. The series premiered on Netflix on September 5, 2024. It debuted at the top of Netflix’s most-watched list, garnering over 20 million views in its opening weekend.
Bier directed Netflix’s 2018 hit film “Bird Box,” starring Sandra Bullock, which went on to become the most-watched film in Netflix history. In 2020, she directed the six-part series “The Undoing”, which starred Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant and became HBO’s first original series to grow its audience each week. She also directed the Showtime limited series “The First Lady,” starring Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Gillian Anderson.
She won an Emmy Award for directing the six-part AMC mini-series “The Night Manager,” based on the 1993 novel of the same name by John le Carré, with stars Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie and Olivia Colman all winning Golden Globes for their work. Bier was an executive producer on season 2 of the series, which saw Hiddleston and Colman reprising their roles.
Bier directed “Love Is All You Need” starring Pierce Brosnan and Trine Dyrholm. The film won the European Film Award for Best Comedy in 2013. Additionally, she directed “A Second Chance” starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014.
Her 2010 film “In a Better World” won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as an Italian Golden Globe Award® for Best European Film and Best Director at the European Film Awards. Bier also helmed the multi-award-winning feature “After the Wedding,” which was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film. The film was also remade as an English-language film in 2019 starring Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams and Billy Crudup.
Bier directed the award-winning “Things We Lost in the Fire,” her first English-language film, starring Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro. In 2002, she directed “Open Hearts,” which was shot in accordance with the Dogme ’95 filmmaking aesthetic. The film won numerous awards, including the Audience Award at the Robert Festival (Danish Academy Award) and the International Critics Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. She followed this with “Brothers,” which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Bier also co-wrote and directed the romantic comedy “The One and Only,” which won Best Film at the Danish Robert Awards. At the time of its release, it was the most watched domestic film in Denmark in 20 years, with one-fifth of the country’s population having seen it in theaters.
Photo credit: Elena Zaucke
