Barnaby Thompson
Barnaby David Waterhouse Thompson is a British film director and producer. He is best known for producing Wayne's World, Spice World, Kevin & Perry Go Large and An Ideal Husband, as well as co-directing the St Trinians films. He founded Fragile Films and ran Ealing Studios for fourteen years.
Early life and education
Thompson was born in London to parents who both worked in radio. He went to St. Paul's School and graduated from Oxford University with a degree in theology and philosophy.Career
A graduate of Oxford University, Thompson began his career in documentary filmmaking including the 1990 short film Dear Rosie which received Academy Award and BAFTA nominations. In the early 1990s, he joined Lorne Michaels at Broadway Video in New York, where he co-produced several major American comedies, including Wayne’s World, Coneheads, and Tommy Boy.Upon returning to the United Kingdom, Thompson co-founded Fragile Films with Uri Fruchtmann in 1996 and produced the global commercial success Spice World. His subsequent work included adaptations such as the BAFTA-nominated An Ideal Husband and Kevin & Perry Go Large.
In 2000, he led a consortium to purchase the historic Ealing Studios, serving as its Head of Studios for 14 years and overseeing its modernization. During this tenure, he co-directed the rebooted St Trinian’s franchise, which became one of the highest-grossing independent British film series. His more recent credits include directing the 2020 feature Pixie as well as the 2024 documentary Mad About the Boy: The Noel Coward Story.