Baltasar Kormákur Baltasarsson is an Icelandic actor, producer and director best known for his work on Jar City, 2 Guns, Trapped, and Katla. He is in fact half Catalan, for his father moved to Iceland in the sixties from his native city of Barcelona.
Baltasar’s works span a variety of different media including theatre, movies, and television. His acting career started in the early 90’s after graduating from Iceland’s National Academy of Fine Arts where he was signed on by the National Theatre of Iceland as a leading artist. It wasn’t until 1997 that Baltasar began experimenting in direction stage productions at the same theatre.
After his success in theatre, Baltasar directed and acted in the 2000 101 Reykjavik, which soon became an international hit. In recognition for his work the film won Toronto International Film Festival’s Discovery Award alongside Variety’s “10 Directors to Watch”. Soon after films like A Little Trip to Heaven and White Night Wedding were released and Kormákur became Iceland’s Oscar nominee in 2012. Since then, Baltasar has won a variety of awards for his accomplishments including several Edda Awards for Best Film of the Year, Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role.
After this success, Baltasar focused his work on writing, directing and producing with the creation of Blueeyes Productions. Currently, the company is known as RVK Studios with Baltasar as the director and chairman.The production company seeks to produce and gain exposure for Icelandic film and television. Many of their productions, such as Trapped, have been distributed to over 100 territories and have generated a lot of success both critically and in audience numbers.
Baltasar's Filmography
Film
- Go LazyTown (1996)
- 101 Reykjavik (2000)
- The Sea (2002)
- A Little Trip to Heaven (2005)
- Jar City (2006)
- White Night Wedding (2008)
- Inhale (2010)
- Contraband (2012)
- The Deep (2012)
- 2 Guns (2013)
- Everest (2015)
- The Oath (2016)
- Adrift (2018)
Television
- Hulli (2013)
- The Missionary (2013)
- Trapped (2015 – 2019)
- Katla (2021)
Acting Credits
- Wallpaper: Erotic Love Story (1992)
- Agnes (1995)
- Devil’s Island (1996)
- Spilt (1999)
- Angles of the Universe (2000)
- No Such Thing (2001)
- Me and Morrison (2001)
- Stormy Weather (2003)
A full, and constantly updated, list of Baltasar’s filmography can be found here.