Jane Campion - Early Life

Early Life

Campion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the second daughter of Edith (née Beverley Georgette Hannah), an actress, writer, and heiress, and Richard M. Campion, a theater and opera director. Her maternal great-grandfather was Robert Hannah, the shoe manufacturer of Antrim House. Her father was from a family of Exclusive Brethren. With her older sister, Anna, born a year and half before her and brother, Michael, born seven years after, Campion grew up in the world of New Zealand theater. Her parents founded the New Zealand Players theater group. While initially rejecting the idea of a career in theater or acting, she graduated with a bachelor's degree in Anthropology from Victoria University of Wellington in 1975. In 1976 Campion attended Chelsea Art School in London and travelled throughout Europe. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in painting at the Sydney College of the Arts in Australia in 1979. Based on her education at Chelsea Art School and the Sydney College of the Arts Campion cites surrealist painter Frida Kahlo and sculptor Joseph Beuys as major influences throughout her career. Dissatisfied with the limits of painting as a medium Campion turned to film and created her first short film, Tissues in 1980. In 1981 she began studying at the Australian Film and Television School, where she made several more short films, and graduated in 1984.