Thomas Vinterberg was born in 1969, in Denmark. He graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 1993.

Vinterberg is, along with Lars von Trier, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen and Kristian Levring, one of the four founding brothers of the Dogma 95 film movement. He has received numerous awards at international film festivals for his short films, including Last Round (1993) and The Boy Who Walked Backwards (1993), both of which were nominated for Oscars. The Celebration (The Celebration, 1998), is Vinterberg’s real breakthrough internationally, the first film made adhering to the Dogma aesthetic, which won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes. His two English-language films that followed, It’s All About Love (2003) and Dear Wendy (2005), were selected at the Sundance Film Festival. The comedy When a Man Comes Home, 2007, was his first feature film since The Celebration in Danish, followed by Submarino (2010), winner of the Nordic Council Film Prize. Vinterberg’s The Hunt (The Hunt, 2012) won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival, including best actor for Mads Mikkelsen’s performance, and received a Golden Globe nomination for best actor. The Commune (2016) won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Trine Dyrholm’s performance. In 2019, Vinterberg returns to international territories with the film Kursk (2019). Another Round (2020), with its all-Danish cast, marked the director’s return to Denmark. The film was screened at Cannes and Toronto, as well as in San Sebastián and London, where it won several awards. Another Round also won four awards at the European Film Awards, including Best European Film. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe and two Oscars: for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director, later winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Vinterberg was the first Dane to be nominated in the directing category.