Born in Cairo, his parents were Amenian artists. He went to Canada when he was a kid. He wrote his first play when he was 13. He studied guitar and international relations. He graduated at the University of Toronto where he studied drama and cinema. He made 10 plays like External Affairs shown in New York. After he made short films shown on CBS, he directed his first full length film in 1984, Next of Kin, which deals with items Atom Egoyan likes: conflicts in families, immigrants, misunderstanding in relationships. His second feature film, Family Viewing, won the Best movie prize at the Toronto Festival, three awards in Locarno and participated in around twenty international festivals like Berlin. Speaking parts was shown in 1989 at The Directors’ Fortnight. His last film is The Adjuster. Atom Egoyan also worked for TV. He was about to direct an opera he wrote: Hamlet, Electra and Mother.