Johan Renck

Lore & Background

Renck was born in Uppsala, the son of a doctor and a nurse, and the family lived in several countries while he was growing up. He graduated from the Stockholm School of Economics with a degree in business. As Stakka Bo he had a hit in 1993 with the single Here We Go, which reached No. 13 in the UK Singles Chart. A tight budget led him to direct the first video for his solo project himself, and he kept going.

He went on to direct music videos for Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams, Beyoncé and New Order, and in 2015 he made the ten-minute video for Blackstar by David Bowie. His first film, Downloading Nancy, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008.

Reader's Guide

In 2019 he directed Chernobyl for Sky and HBO, with a cast that included Stellan Skarsgård, Jared Harris and Emily Watson. He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special for it, and in January 2020 he won the Directors Guild of America Award in the category for television movies and limited series.

In June 2020 he was announced as executive producer and director of the pilot of The Last of Us, working again with Craig Mazin. Scheduling conflicts forced him to leave the project in January 2021.

Did You Know?

• His single Here We Go appeared in an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head.
• He directed two videos for The Cardigans with his brother Martin.
• A call from the creator of Breaking Bad followed his first film.