Director, writer, producer and composer Tom Tykwer was born in 1965 in Wuppertal, Germany. He showed an interest in film-making from childhood, making super 8 films from the age of 11. Among his first jobs was working at a local art-house cinema. Tykwer eventually relocated to Berlin, first working as a film projectionist and then becoming head of programming at the Moviemento Theater.

Tykwer's friend, the director Rosa von Praunheim, encouraged him to experiment with film-making and the result was the short Because (1990). Other short films followed, and in 1993 Tykwer made his first full length feature Die tödliche Maria (1993). Tykwer's international breakthrough came in 1998 with Lola rennt (1998), which was a hit with both audiences and critics alike. The film garnered many awards and was the most successful German film of the year.

Subsequent projects include Heaven (2002), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), The International (2009) and the ambitious epic Cloud Atlas (2012).