Steve Barron


Steven Barron is an Irish film director, film producer, writer, and music video director. He directed the films Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Coneheads and The Adventures of Pinocchio, as well as numerous music videos including Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and A-ha's "Take On Me", with the latter reaching 1 billion views on YouTube.

Early life

Barron was born in Dublin, Ireland, the younger child of Jewish filmmaker Zelda Ruth Barron and actor Ron Barron, who met in London. Zelda and Ron married in 1953; the marriage was later dissolved. He has an older sister, Siobhan. He attended St Marylebone Grammar School in London.

Career

Barron made his music video directorial debut in 1979 with "Time for Action" by Secret Affair and their following hit singles "My World" and "Sound of Confusion" and directed, and occasionally wrote additional treatment for, various music videos. These videos, which include "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits, and "Take On Me" by a-ha, would come to define the medium during the early days of MTV and are still considered among the best of all time. He founded the production company Limelight with his sister Siobhan and Adam Whitaker.
In 1984, he directed the science fiction comedy Electric Dreams, and then went on to direct several episodes of the television series The Storyteller before returning to film, directing the films Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1990, The Adventures of Pinocchio in 1996, Rat in 2000 and in 2001. Barron directed several award-winning miniseries, such as Merlin, Arabian Nights and Dreamkeeper for Hallmark Entertainment. In July 2010, it was revealed that Barron would make a return to music videos, directing "Butterfly, Butterfly", the then-final video of a-ha.
In late 2011, Barron's two-part production of Treasure Island was shown on British Sky television. The cast included Eddie Izzard as Long John Silver and Elijah Wood as Ben Gunn.

Books

In November 2014, he published his autobiography entitled Egg n Chips & Billie Jean: A Trip Through the Eighties.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Music videos directed by Barron include: