Tarsem Singh

Tarsem was born in Jalandhar, Punjab to a Punjabi Sikh family. His father was an aircraft engineer. He attended Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, Hans Raj College in Delhi, and is a graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Singh's classmates included future film directors Michael Bay and Zack Snyder. Singh also acted in the student films of Bay and Snyder, including playing a Nazi in one of the latter's works.

Tarsem began his career by directing music videos, including those of "Hold On" by En Vogue, "Sweet Lullaby" by Deep Forest and R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion", the latter of which won Best Music Video, Short Form at the 1992 Grammy Awards. He has directed commercials for brands such as Nike and Coca-Cola. Tarsem's feature film directorial debut was The Cell (2000), starring Jennifer Lopez. In 2003, Tarsem directed one of the most elaborate Pepsi commercials to date. It combined a gladiator theme with Queen's "We Will Rock You". The commercial starred Enrique Iglesias in the version of the commercial aired in Europe and North America and Amr Diab in the version aired in the Arab world. Tarsem's second film, The Fall, debuted at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in theatres in the United States in 2008. His third film was 2011's Immortals which he directed for Relativity Media and Universal Pictures. He directed an adaptation of the Brothers Grimm story of "Snow White", called Mirror Mirror (2012). In 2020, Tarsem made his return to music videos with Lady Gaga's single "911", his first in 26 years. In 2021, his Super Bowl ad for Toyota featuring the adoption of US Paralympian Jessica Long won significant critical acclaim. He also directed the Microsoft Windows 11 commercial Journey which featured the song "Brings You Closer to What You Love" by Odessa, an appearance by Master Chief from Halo (Xbox) and dancers emerging through a painting by Clifford Bailey. His 2023 film Dear Jassi premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was the winner of the Platform Prize.

Suzanne Vega - "Tired of Sleeping" (1990) En Vogue – "Hold On" (1990) R.E.M. – "Losing My Religion" (1991) The Dream Academy – "Love" (1991) Dream Warriors – "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style" (1991) Deep Forest – "Sweet Lullaby" (1994) Lady Gaga – "911" (2020)