Biography:

Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström (born June 2, 1946) is a Swedish film director. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards: two for My Life as a Dog (Mitt liv som hund) (1985) (Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay) and one for The Cider House Rules (1999) (Best Director). Hallström learned his craft making music videos, in particular for the group ABBA. Since the international success of My Life as a Dog (1985), Hallström has worked in American movies. His first notable American success was What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). He reached his greatest level of prominence when he directed The Cider House Rules (1999) and Chocolat (2000), both of which were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. His 2012 film The Hypnotist was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lasse Hallström, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.