Mario Azzopardi

Mario Azzopardi

Mario Philip Azzopardi (born in Siggiewi, Malta 19 November, 1950; resident of Toronto, Canada), is a television and film director and writer.

He has worked on such shows as The Outer Limits, Stargate SG-1 (including its two-hour pilot), and Stargate Atlantis. In 2008 he directed all eight episodes of the highly acclaimed and award winning HBO Canada/TMN miniseries ZOS: Zone of Separation, which he co created and produced. Mario Philip Azzopardi should not be confused with Maltese poet, short story writer and columnist Mario Azzopardi (born 1944), who is also involved in theatre and directs the Malta Drama Centre.

In 1971, while still a student at the Royal University of Malta, he directed Il-Gaġġa, presumed to be the first full-length feature filmed entirely in Maltese. Transferred to digital format and enhanced, the film was re-released in Malta in March 2007.

Azzopardi left his native Malta for Canada in 1978, following a dispute with local censors and theatre authorities who, in 1977, had cancelled his play, Sulari Fuq Strada Stretta, on the grounds that it was too offensive; the play was eventually presented at the Manoel Theatre in January 2008.

Azzopardi was educated at St Aloysius' College (Birkirkara, Malta), and the Royal University of Malta.

Azzopardi is married to Therese and has three children, Lara Azzopardi, Kyra Azzopardi and Yari Azzopardi.