Jane Campion DNZM (b. 1954), director, producer and screenwriter, is the first woman to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the second woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, both for her acclaimed film The Piano (1993). Campion gained degrees in anthropology and arts (painting) before attending the Australian Film Television and Radio School in the early 1980s. By 1986 she had won her first Short Film Palme d'Or at Cannes for Peel (1982) and made her first film for television, Two Friends. Her feature film debut Sweetie (1989) won several awards; An Angel at my Table (1990) followed. Accolades for The Piano are lengthy: the film won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for Best Picture, Holly Hunter won the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Actress, and Anna Paquin won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Campion also won the AFI award for Best Director. Her subsequent films include The Portrait of a Lady (1996), Holy Smoke! (1999), In the Cut (2003) and Bright Star (2009). Campion turned to executive production for the 2006 documentary Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story. She created, wrote and directed the television series, Top of the Lake (2013), which won several awards for its lead actress Elisabeth Moss and led to a sequel, Top of the Lake: China Girl (2017). Her first film in more than a decade The Power of the Dog (2021) stars Benedict Cumberbatch.
