BAZ LUHRMANN (Director/Co-Writer/Producer) previously collaborated with several members of the creative team behind WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO & JULIET to create the critically-hailed, box-office success "Strictly Ballroom." Luhrmann co-wrote the film with Craig Pearce, with whom he would later partner to write WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO & JULIET. Marking Luhrmann's debut as a feature film director, "Strictly Ballroom" premiered at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival and went on the win the Festival's Prix de Jeuness and a Special Mention for the Camera D'Or. A humorous, innovative, romantic fable set against the capricious, colorful world of ballroom dancing, "Strictly Ballroom" won eight Australian Film Institute Awards, three British Academy Awards, as well as a Golden Globe nomination, the Audience Prize from both the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals, the Toronto Film Festival's Carlsberg People's Choice Award and the Chicago Film Festival's Best First Feature Film Award.

Born in Australia, Luhrmann grew up in Northern New South Wales and went on to attend the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney. While at NIDA, in 1985, Luhrmann was chosen, out of many applicants, to assist on Peter Brook's epic play, "The Mahabarata." The following year, Luhrmann devised and staged the original "Strictly Ballroom," which began as a thirty-minute play that Luhrmann directed. Following its bow with NIDA, Luhrmann took the play to the World Youth Theater Festival in what was then Czechoslovakia, where it won awards for Best Production and Best Director. That same year, he directed "Crocodile Creek," a musical-theater piece set and performed in the Australian outback, for the New Moon Theater Company. Upon his graduation from NIDA, Luhrmann formed an independent theater group called the Six Years Old Company, serving as the troupe's Artistic Director. Under the company's aegis, he revived "Strictly Ballroom" for a highly successful season at the Wharf Theater in Sydney and toured with the show to the World Expo in Brisbane.

In between incarnations of "Strictly Ballroom," Luhrmann and associates also mounted several inventive productions of classic and original operas, including his highly-acclaimed 1990 presentation of Puccini's famed "La Boheme," for the Australian Opera. Originally set in Paris, circa 1830, Luhrmann placed his version in the 1950s, working with longtime creative partner Catherine Martin to design striking, monochromatic sets and contemporary costumes, as well as a unique, mobile stage. Luhrmann's "La Boheme" was a huge success -- it not only appealed to opera aficionados, but also to a younger generation less familiar with the medium but, as Luhrmann proved, no less interested in it. Luhrmann's interpretation of "La Boheme" won the Mo Award for Operatic Performance of the Year, and also aired on PBS' "Great Performances" series.

Luhrmann also originated, with composer Felix Meagher, the opera "Lake Lost," which earned Luhrmann the Victorian Green Room Award for Best Director, as well as other original works including "The Pure Merino Fandango." He also staged a unique production of Benjamin Britten's operatic version of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night's Dream" for the Australian Opera, which he took to the 1994 Edinburgh Festival, where it won the Critic's Prize. In 1989 Luhrmann staged a unique event called "Dance Hall," for the Sydney Festival, in which he recreated a 1940s dance hall, inviting participants to relive the night celebrating the end of World War II.

In addition to his film and stage work, Luhrmann produced the signature issue of Australian Vogue, serving as guest editor with longtime friends and artistic collaborators, Catherine Martin and Bill Marron. He also orchestrated the campaign for the re-election of the Labor Party's Paul Keating, who ultimately retained his position as Australia's Prime Minister. Luhrmann also directed the music video for John Paul Young's hit single, "Love is in the Air," as well as the music video for Ignatius Jones' "Beat Me Daddy."