Timur Bekmambetov is a Russian-Kazakh director, producer, and screenwriter who has worked for films, TV series as well as commercials. He grew up in Guryev, now known as the city of Atyrau in Kazakhstan, and graduated with a degree in theatre and cinema. During the same time, he served in the Soviet army, an experience that later inspired him to write his first feature film Peshavar Waltz (1994). He is widely known for Night Watch (2004), a Russian fantasy film that became immensely popular and was also the highest grossing release in Russia.
In 2008 he made his Hollywood debut through the action film Wanted. Over the years Bekmambetov directed several films, American and Russian, and even produced the first Russian language superhero film - Black Lightning (2009). The Russian edition of Variety named him one of the most commercially successful Russian directors of the decade in 2013. Since 2015 Bekmambetov has started making computer screen films, a genre he refers to as Screen Life. His 2019 releases include The Current War, for which he is a producer.