Tom Hooper is an Oscar-winning film director. He was born in London to a British father and an Australian mother - the former Australian of the Year in the UK award-winner, writer Meredith Hooper. Tom started directing films at the age of 13 on a clockwork Bolex film camera. He wrote and directed the short film Painted Faces aged 18 which was shown on Channel 4 and released in cinemas. After studying English at University College, Oxford, he began his directing career in advertising and television. He directed episodes of Eastenders, Cold Feet, the miniseries Love in a Cold Climate and Daniel Deronda and then Prime Suspect - for which Tom was nominated for a BAFTA and an Emmy. He made his feature film debut with the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission drama Red Dust - for which he was BAFTA nominated. Tom won the Emmy for directing Helen Mirren in Elizabeth I and the Golden Globe for his film Longford. Tom’s 9 hour HBO miniseries John Adams - telling the story of the American Revolution - won 13 Emmys, the most Emmys ever awarded to a program in a single year. He followed this with The Damned United, the story of Brian Clough’s spell as manager at Leeds United, before starting work on The King’s Speech following a recommendation from his mother.  Tom explained. “My mother was invited by Australian friends to a table reading at a fringe theatre of an unproduced play called The King’s Speech - because she's part of the Australian community here. The play is about the relationship between King George the Sixth and his Australian speech therapist. She came back and said ‘I think I’ve found your next film’. Tom cast Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth and Helena Bonham-Carter in the lead roles. The film went on to win four Academy Awards - including Best Picture and Best Director.  Tom directed Les Miserables starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway which won 3 Oscars. He directed The Danish Girl, starring Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander - who won an Oscar for her performance. He directed Cats, based on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical and the poems of T S Eliot and starring Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, Idris Elba and Taylor Swift - and was the lead director and executive producer of His Dark Materials for HBO and the BBC. In total Tom Hooper’s films and television have won 8 Oscars, 20 BAFTAs, 22 Emmys and 14 Golden Globes - and his work has brought pleasure to millions of people worldwide. He is proud of his dual Australian and British heritage. In a year celebrating the international success of Australians on stage and screen he is a most appropriate recipient of the Honorary Australian of the Year Award.