In 1995, aged only 22, Nick Livesey graduated with a Masters Degree from the Royal College of Art in London making him the youngest graduate since Norris Spencer. Although the MA was in Graphic Design & Art Direction he spent most of his time in the other RCA faculties beginning to learn the craft of film making.

Whilst at the RCA he ran a cinema club once a week, meaning he had the keys to the projection theatre. This was where he experimented by projecting all kinds of tests and ideas, sometimes sleeping there when he was locked in late at night. Splicing reels together of classic films such as 2001, or Raging Bull. This gave Livesey the celluloid bug.

After graduating Livesey took a design position in New York for a year but he decided to return to London to find his feet in production.

His first break came from director Tony Scott who had managed to see Livesey’s rough VHS showreel.  The commission was a 15 minute ‘wraparound’ sequence for a U.S. Showtime series called  ‘The Hunger’.   This was nominated for an Emmy in 1997 and Livesey was thus signed as a director at Ridley Scott Associates. He has been represented by RSA ever since.

Winning best New Director in Cannes in 1999 for ‘The Good Friday Agreement’ Livesey has notched up many awards and nominations, from a D&AD Pencil (Paul Smith), to the Best Irish Language TV Advert in the past ten years (Club Energise 2005) to the most awarded commercial in Australia in 2005 (Spider) - Cannes Lions/Asia Pacific/ATV.

Between 1999 and 2002 he designed and directed three sequences for Ridley Scott, the Opening Title Sequence to HANNIBAL (which won the Soho Short Films Award for that category), the opening to GLADIATOR, and a mid-film sequence in BLACK HAWK DOWN.

Livesey gained a second Emmy nomination in 2005 for his Discovery Channel ‘Queen X’ about the rediscovered remains of Queen Nefertiti in Egypt. With all of the publicity this became the most viewed programme in Discovery’s history. 

Since the Russian Vogue Haut Couture ‘HIDE & SEEK’ film, Livesey has been enjoying the challenge of shooting short films as well as the steady flow of commercials.

His Solo Photography Show ‘Patagonia Through A Pinhole’ - exhibited at The Royal Geographical Society, Kensington, London - generated record visitor numbers for the RGS in 2010. Along with the huge landscape prints, there featured an ancient ‘Giant Sloth’ skin on loan specially from The Natural History Museum, and Charles Darwin’s Pocket Sextant. Following on from this show, Livesey will be a guest speaker at the Travel Photographer of the Year 2011.

In 2001 he co-founded ‘The Fireflies Ride’ (1000km over the high french alps in 8 days) which has since gathered huge momentum, arriving in the festival in Cannes every June. The RSA backed ride has raised close to £1m for Leukaemia and is attracting more riders than ever. In 2009 Livesey documented the ride using pinhole photography, this was published by Rapha in a Hardback Edition. 2010 is the tenth year of The Fireflies.

Ride On!