Daniel Espinosa

Espinosa was born in Stockholm in 1977. His Chilean parents emigrated to Sweden after the 1973 Chilean coup d'état led by Augusto Pinochet. Espinosa spent his early childhood in several African countries, before his parents separated and his mother brought him back to Sweden.^[2] He was raised in the Skogås distrct of the Huddinge Municipality of Stockholm County.^[2]

Espinosa recalled having a difficult childhood and being jailed in a juvenile detention center at age 17.^[2] At the suggestion of a court psychologist, he was enrolled in the Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Läroverket boarding school, which he credits with spurring his interest in filmmaking.^[2] He then attended the National Film School of Denmark and graduated in 2003.^[1]

His third feature film, Easy Money, was the Swedish film with the most admissions in Sweden in 2010.^[3] Espinosa was in talks about directing the film adaptation of Assassin's Creed^[4] but was ultimately replaced by Justin Kurzel.

He also directed the critically panned^[5] Sony's Spider-Man Universe film Morbius (2022).^[6][7]

His 2024 film Madame Luna was nominated for Best Nordic Film at the Gothenburg Film Festival.^[8] The same year, he co-directed the miniseries The Helicopter Heist.