Rønning grew up in Sandefjord, Norway, a small coastal town south of Oslo. At the age of 12, his parents bought their first home video camera. According to Rønning, "...it was a bulky affair, but it was love at first sight."[3] He spent his teenage years making short films and shooting commercials for local businesses, often using homemade camera rigs strapped to skateboards. When asked what inspired him to become a filmmaker, Rønning said his father being a part of the local theater company immersed his young self with experience of sitting backstage and having views of the productions' inner workings.
In 1992, he attended Stockholms Filmskola in Sweden, graduating in 1994.[4]
In December 2008, Rønning's first Norwegian film, Max Manus: Man of War,[6] premiered.[7]Max Manus was the highest-grossing Norwegian movie of all time, at over 1.2 million tickets sold in Norway.[8] The film's North American premiere was at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.[9]
Kon-Tiki premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2012.[citation needed] In 2013, Kon-Tiki was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award in the best foreign language category.[10] This is the first Norwegian film to be nominated for the awards.[citation needed]
The success of Kon-Tiki led to Rønning and Sandberg directing a film in the Pirates of the Caribbean[11] franchise for Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney. Filmed on location in Australia, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales went on to earn close to US$800 million at the box office worldwide.[12][13]
Rønning's next movie Maleficent: Mistress of Evil starring Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer for Disney, premiered in the fall of 2019 to become the third highest October release of all time and eventually grossing half a billion dollars worldwide.[14][15]
His next feature was Young Woman and The Sea, starring Daisy Ridley, which tells the story of Gertrude Ederle's historic swim across the English Channel.[16] The production of the movie was challenging due to Rønning's desire to shoot everything in open water.[17] The film premiered in May 2024 to critical acclaim.[18][19] He described this work as "the most intense movie [he's] ever done", alluding to his dedication to make sure that the story be shot on the open sea.[20]
Rønning will also be directing Here Be Monsters, a sci-fi thriller that he co-wrote with his brother Andreas Rønning.[28]
Rønning also referenced he has "a couple of projects" that may be set in Europe. Noting that he would like for his next opus to be "something that [he's] developed [himself].[29]
