Jan 17, 1977

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Leigh Whannell grew up in Melbourne, Australia, where, at the age of four,
he developed an obsession with telling stories. Whether it be through
acting, writing or filmmaking, his primary love was getting a reaction from
an audience.

In 1995, at the age of 18, he was accepted into the Royal Melbourne
Institute of Technology's prestigious Media Arts course, where he met fellow
filmmaker James Wan. In his second year of college, he landed the role of
'film guy' on a Saturday morning... ... (read more...) TV show called 'Recovery'.
Hosting the film component of the show, Leigh was
lucky enough to interview people like Tim Burton, Peter Jackson, Russell
Crowe, and George Clooney.
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After graduating from college, Leigh found himself working more and more as
a 'host' or 'presenter' on Australian TV. Small acting roles cropped up from time to time (including one in 'The
Matrix Reloaded', which Leigh has said was "the most fun I've ever had in my
life") and, along with those, an audition for 'Lord Of The Rings', in
which he paid $90 to have 'hobbit ears' grafted onto his head, turning up at
the casting office dressed as a hobbit - needless to say he didn't get the
role. However, it was missing out on a role in Alex 'The Crow' Proyas'
Australian film 'Garage Days' that finally broke the camel's back. He called
Wan and told him that if they wanted to get a film made, they would have to
pay for it themselves. 'Saw' was born. After nine months of writing, Leigh
had written the screenplay for what he thought would be a self-financed,
'Blair Witch'-style feature, with him starring and James directing. The
script gained so much attention that soon enough, they were shopping it
around Hollywood....and the rest is history.