Vadim Perelman - Early Life and Work

Early Life and Work

Born in Kiev, then part of the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union (now in Ukraine), Perelman was an only child who lived with his extended Jewish family in a communal flat. When he was only nine years old, his father was killed in a car accident. Five years later, Perelman and his mother were granted permission to leave Kiev and arrived in Western Europe. They lived in Vienna for two months then moved to Rome, where they lived in extreme poverty.

Remembering that period, Perelman likens himself to the kids in Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados — a street urchin "always searching for a hunk of bread or a scam to pull." He supported himself and his young mother in this fashion for a year. When a Canadian visa finally came, they left for that country where Perelman would ultimately build a new life and start his career.

Following some rather tumultuous teenage years, Perelman finally began to concentrate on his formal education. He attended the University of Alberta, majoring in physics and maths, before a sophomore-year class in film-making completely changed his focus. Moving to Toronto, he studied film at Ryerson University's School of Image Arts for two years, before launching his own Toronto-based production house, called Canned Films. After honing his skills directing and editing music videos, he decided to make the move to Los Angeles to further his career.

Over the next three years, Perelman directed multinational television commercials for Microsoft, General Motors, Panasonic, Nike, Airwalk, AT&T, Sony PlayStation, Coors and MasterCard, and music videos including Kelly Clarkson's "Because Of You."