Robert Redford

Redford’s life has always revolved around the arts. He first aspired to be an artist, studying painting before venturing into acting. Spanning half a century, Redford’s on-screen career reflects his extraordinary range and includes memorable roles in comedies, romances, Westerns, political thrillers and dramas. In 1980, he stepped behind the camera for his directorial debut, winning an Academy Award for Ordinary People. He went on to direct seven other films including 1994’s Quiz Show, for which he was again nominated for an Oscar. At the same time, he began taking the reins as producer as well. Redford received a lifetime Achievement Award at the 74th Academy Awards and be named one of the “Most Influential People in the World” by Time magazine.

Early in his career, Redford began formulating a plan to create a force for artistic development that would go far beyond his personal needs. Beginning with two acres of land in Utah, Redford would eventually build Sundance, summer home to the Sundance Institute. Today, it is an artistic sanctuary with over 5,000 permanently protected acres of pristine wilderness. Here, in the remote natural setting and removed from the pressures of the marketplace, Redford created a community where emerging and established filmmakers, playwrights and composers could come together to explore their independent vision in an atmosphere of collaboration. Many of the most compelling films and plays of the past decades have been incubated and premiered at Sundance, which has become a key resource for independent film and theatre artists not only in the U.S. but around the world as well.

“Sundance created an opportunity of education through work that didn’t exist before,” says Redford. Today, the Institute fills that void, and Redford’s vision continues to influence and shape the American independent film and theatre landscape and beyond in the work of the Redford Center at Sundance Preserve and other Sundance entities.