Nicolas Winding Refn

Refn is a director I admire precisely because he polarizes. Drive earned him Best Director at Cannes in 2011, but what stays with me isn't the plot, it's the way he lets silence, neon and stillness do the talking. Coming out of Copenhagen, he has this cold, almost clinical sense of beauty that makes his violence feel like art rather than spectacle. The Pusher trilogy proved he was never going to play it safe. He's not for everyone, and he knows it. But if his rhythm clicks with you, nothing else quite scratches the same itch. A genuine stylist.

Name (English)

Nicolas Winding Refn

Name (Japanese)

ニコラス・ウィンディング・レフン

Reading

にこらす・うぃんでぃんぐ・れふん

Born

September 29, 1970 (age 55)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Libra / Dog

Origin

Copenhagen, Denmark

Occupation

film director / screenwriter / film producer

Awards & achievements

• 2011 Cannes Best Director Award
• 2015 Time Machine Award

• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/nwrefn/
• Xhttps://x.com/nicolaswr
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas%20Winding%20Refn
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8B%E3%82%B3%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AC%E3%83%95%E3%83%B3
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q359397

Tags

• film director
• screenwriter
• film producer

Last updated

2026-06-17

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.