John Polson is an award-winning actor, director and producer, as well as the founder and director of Tropfest, the world's largest short film festival.
Polson has garnered worldwide attention directing feature films such as Siam Sunset (starring Linus Roache), which won awards at numerous film festivals around the world (including the Cannes Film Festival). He also directed the US feature films Swimfan (starring Jesse Bradford, Erica Christensen) and Hide and Seek (starring Robert De Niro, Dakota Fanning), both of which opened at Number 1 at the US box office. John's 2009 film Tenderness starred Russell Crowe and Laura Dern.
He began his career as an actor and has appeared in such films as The Sum of Us, the Boys, Idiot Box and Mission: Impossible 2.
Recently, John has flexed his creative muscle as a producer and director of hit television shows such as Fringe, the Mentalist and the Good Wife. He is currently Executive Producer / Director on the CBS hit crime drama Elementary (starring Jonny Lee Miller, Lucy Liu).
The creative force behind Tropfest's success and global expansion since its humble beginnings, Polson launched the festival at Sydney's Tropicana Cafe in 1993. Tropfest in Australia now attracts a live audience of over 150,000 people on a single night, as well as many more via a simultaneous television broadcast. Tropfest screenings have been held in cities around the world including Berlin, London, Bangkok, Paris, Beijing, Aspen to name a few.
Polson is mostly based in New York City but visits Australia regularly.
