Born and raised in Ebbw Vale in the south Wales valleys, Ryan Andrew Hooper attended Cardiff University and then the International Film School Wales in Newport.  He has directed a number of short films, including THE SHIRT, broadcast on BBC2 as part of their Made in Wales season, and CATAWAMPUS, a social realist exploration of two young people’s first experiences of sex and death, which screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the London Short Film Festival.

He collaborated with screenwriter Matt Redd on the black comedy short AMBITION, starring Simon Russell Beale, Nina Toussaint-White and Gwyneth Keyworth, and funded by Ffilm Cymru Wales and the BFI, which was a first introduction to some of the characters who would later appear in THE TOLL, Ryan’s feature film debut.

Ryan also produced FUNDAY, a comedy short that screened at Raindance Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA Cymru award, and co-produced PRETTY VILLAGE, a Bosnian war documentary feature.  As a director, he is currently developing THE LIFE AND DEATH OF DANIEL DEE, again funded by Ffilm Cymru Wales, a black comedy caper about two hitwomen and the life insurance salesman who becomes their next target.