Thor Freudenthal () is a German film director, former animator and special effects artist best known for his work on Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.
Life and career Freudenthal was raised in Berlin, Germany. His parents were born in Israel of both Polish-Jewish origins. He credits his early interest in cinema to Steven Spielberg, saying "When my mother told me he's Jewish, and he goes to synagogue, it was like, 'My God, we're of the same tribe, and he's a huge hero of mine.' And then seeing the Schindler movie actually made me feel more secure in who I was myself." His family's connection to Spielberg became real when his Jewish grandparents, survivors of the Holocaust who had known Schindler personally, were asked to appear in the final scene of the movie.
Freudenthal attended the Hochschule der Künste Berlin, and later moved to Southern California as an exchange student at CalArts. He started out as an animation director, and found success as a director in his first live-action film, Motel, which played at Sundance Film Festival in 2005. He also worked on conceptal/visual art work at Sony Pictures Imageworks on films like Stuart Little, The ChubbChubbs! and Stuart Little 2. He later worked as second unit director on Disney's The Haunted Mansion. In 2009, he directed Hotel for Dogs for DreamWorks Pictures. He directed the live-action/animated feature film, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, based on the book by Jeff Kinney and in 2013 he directed Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.
In 2019, he was reported to have signed on to direct a film adaptation of the novel Skywatchers for Gotham Group. In 2020, he directed Words on Bathroom Walls, a drama film starring Charlie Plummer and Taylor Russell, about a teenager struggling with schizophrenia; the film was well-reviewed. In 2026, Freudenthal was announced to direct a film adaptation of the novel Lottery for Searchlight Pictures.
Freudenthal has also directed multiple episodes of Arrow and one episode of The Flash.
Filmography Film Year Film Notes 2009 Hotel for Dogs 2010 Diary of a Wimpy Kid Also storyboard artistThe Wimpy Kid Movie Diary by Jeff Kinney 2013 Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters 2020 Words on Bathroom Walls Also producer
Television Year Title Episode(s)2011Aim High"Pilot"Episodes #1.2 – #1.6 2014 Arrow "The Climb""Al Sah-Him""Green Arrow""Legends of Yesterday" 2015 The Flash "Out of Time" 2015 Supergirl "How Does She Do It?"2015Quantico"Inside" 2016 Legends of Tomorrow "The Magnificent Eight"2016The Death of Eva Sofia Valdez 2017 The Expanse "Caliban's War""Assured Destruction""Reload" 2018 The Tick "Tale From the Crypt""The End of the Beginning (Or the Start of the Dawn of the Age of Superhero)" 2019 Carnival Row "Some Dark God Wakes""Aisling""The Joining of Unlike Things""Fight and Flight""New Dawn"2021La Brea "Pilot""The New Arrival" "The Storm""Father and Son"2022Quantum Leap"July 13th, 1985"2023Therapy"Pilot""Zweikel""66"2025The Hunting Party"Richard Harris""Jenna Wells""Ron Simms""Adrian Gallo""Xander Wax"2025The Bondsman"Marphos""Erdos"
Short films Year Film Director Writer 1996 Monkey Business 1997 Tattoos 1998 The Tenor 1998 Mind the Gap 2005 Motel 2007Zéro Deux 2015 Another Day 2016 Starman
Other credits Year Film Notes 1999 Stuart Little Creative and visual effects development 2002 The ChubbChubbs! Character designer, storyboard artist 2002 Stuart Little 2 Conceptual artist 2003 The Haunted Mansion Second unit director2009The Movie LoftSelf (8 June 2009 and 12 May 2009)2009A Home for Everyone: The Making of 'Hotel for Dogs''' |Self (video documentary short) |- |2009 |Hotel for Dogs: K-9 Casting|Self (video documentary short) |- |2009 |Hotel for Dogs: That's the Coolest Thing I've Ever Seen!|Self (video documentary short) |- |2010 |Feed the Fish|Book illustrator |- |2013 |Made in Hollywood''Self (episode #8.38)
References
External links