Zack Snyder

Zachary Edward Snyder was born on March 1, 1966, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and raised in Riverside of Greenwich, Connecticut. His mother, Marsha Manley (née Reeves), was a painter and a photography teacher at Daycroft School, which Snyder later attended. His father, Charles Edward "Ed" Snyder, worked as an executive recruiter. Marsha always nurtured her son's artistic side, buying him his first film camera. He has an older sister, Audrey. He also had an older brother, Sam, who died in a car accident when Snyder was a teenager.

Snyder was raised as a Christian Scientist, and attended a summer camp in Harrison, Maine, run by the church.

He studied painting a year after high school at Heatherley School of Fine Art in England, although he had already begun filmmaking. Back in high school, Snyder struggled due to his dyslexia and made his first film there with the camera his mother bought him, using it to make an unflattering commentary about his school's administration that got him expelled. His mother also bought him a subscription to Heavy Metal magazine in his youth to encourage his artistic interest, which, along with Frank Frazetta, helped to shape his artistic tastes. Afterward, Snyder attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. His classmates included fellow future Hollywood directors Michael Bay and Tarsem Singh. Singh starred in a short film by Snyder. He graduated with a BFA in film in 1989.

The production notes for Snyder's first film Dawn of the Dead describes Snyder as "a comic book and horror film enthusiast in his youth".

After graduating, Snyder directed commercials as well as music videos for ZZ Top and Morrissey, where he met his future wife Deborah, who was then a music producer. Sony bought Snyder to direct his near-feature length S.W.A.T. (2003). Snyder would leave shortly after as he wanted the film to be rated R, and Clark Johnson would replace him soon after. Snyder directed "Respect" for Budweiser, which came out in February 2002. The 60-second commercial depicts a group of horses traveling toward the site of the 9/11 terror attacks to pay their respects to the victims with a bow.

Snyder made his feature film debut with the remake of the horror film Dawn of the Dead (2004), and scored a box office hit with the fantasy war film 300 (2006), adapted from writer-artist Frank Miller's Dark Horse Comics miniseries of the same name. His Warner Bros. film Watchmen was released on March 6, 2009, and grossed $185 million worldwide. His follow-up project/animation debut, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, was released on September 24, 2010. Snyder produced, co-wrote, and directed Sucker Punch, which was released on March 25, 2011. The film, based on a script written by Snyder and Steve Shibuya, was about a young woman in a mental hospital who fantasizes of escape with her fellow inmates.

He directed 2013's Man of Steel for Warner Bros., a reboot of the Superman franchise and the jumpstart to the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and produced the prequel/sequel to 300, 300: Rise of an Empire (2014).

During Comic Con 2013, Snyder announced that Batman and Superman would share the screen in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, released in 2016. Snyder directed, Cavill reprised his role as Superman, and Ben Affleck played Batman. Snyder directed Warner Bros.' 2017 Justice League, but he exited during post-production to deal with the death of his daughter, Autumn Snyder. His replacement was Joss Whedon.

On January 29, 2019, Snyder announced that he had signed on to helm Army of the Dead, a zombie heist thriller, for Netflix. Snyder directed and produced the film with his partner and wife, Deborah Snyder, via their newly rebranded production company, The Stone Quarry. His agreement with Netflix has since expanded into several Army of the Dead projects; Army of Thieves, a prequel released in 2021, and Planet of the Dead, a sequel to be created.

On May 20, 2020, Snyder announced that Zack Snyder's Justice League would be released on the streaming service HBO Max in 2021. The film was released on March 18, 2021, dedicated to the memory of his daughter Autumn.

In July 2021, Snyder was officially announced to be developing the film Rebel Moon for Netflix. It was inspired by Star Wars and the films of Akira Kurosawa. Filming began in April 2022 and lasted until November that year, with the project being developed as a two-part film. Snyder also produced and directed two episodes of Twilight of the Gods, an anime-style web series inspired by Norse mythology, for Netflix.

In 2009, Snyder listed Excalibur, Mad Max 2, A Clockwork Orange, Blue Velvet, and RoboCop as his five favorite films.

Family

Snyder lives in Pasadena, California with his second wife, producer Deborah Johnson. The couple first met in 1996, began dating in 2002, and married on September 25, 2004, at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Manhattan, New York City. He was previously married to Denise Weber.

Snyder has eight children: two biological children and two adopted daughters with Weber, two biological sons from a relationship with Kirsten Elin, and two adopted children with Johnson. The suicide of his daughter Autumn prompted Snyder to withdraw from post-production work on Justice League in May 2017 to be with his family, which resulted in Joss Whedon completing the film in his place.

Following his daughter's suicide, Snyder became involved in philanthropic activities directed towards suicide prevention and mental health awareness. Snyder promoted this effort on social media by selling clothing and merchandise related to the Snyder Cut; in May 2021, it was revealed that this effort had raised more than $750,000 in charitable donations to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

In another effort to help with suicide prevention, Snyder included a billboard for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention with the message "You are not alone" in a scene in Zack Snyder's Justice League. The film features other tributes to his late daughter.

Snyder directed two PSAs for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in 2018.

In 2021, Snyder partnered with Save the Children, a global child rights organization, to build a 100-bed temporary hospital facility in New Delhi to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

Political views

Although his films have been critiqued as having "right-wing" messages, politically, Snyder is a Democrat. He endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. In a 2021 interview with The Guardian, he stated: I vote Democrat! I'm a true lover of individual rights. I've always been a super-strong advocate of women's rights and a woman's right to choose, and I've always been surrounded by powerful women. And, of course, I'm a huge advocate for the rights of all ethnicities and every walk of life. I would say I'm a pretty liberal guy. I want to make sure everyone's heard and everyone feels included. I don't have a rightwing political agenda. People see what they want to see. For me, that was not certainly the point.

In 2026, Snyder denounced fascism and proclaimed, "I'm pro-gay," saying that he views his film 300 through a gay lens.