Born in Lucknow, India, Waris Hussein moved to England at age nine with his parents. He later attended Cambridge and at 21 started as a trainee director with BBC, where his mother, the late Attia Hussein, worked. In addition to reading news in Hindi, she was also the station's dramatic star--translating William Shakespeare in Urdu and Hindi--as well as an author. Young Hussein, too, was influenced by his mother's artistic abilities and knew very early on that he wanted to be a director. After starting in television with work on Doctor Who (1963) (including directing the very first episode, Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child (1963)), Hussein moved on to film, directing such legends as Lord Laurence Olivier, Bette Davis and Joan Plowright. While considering himself a British filmmaker, Hussein has worked both sides of the Atlantic, as well as in the country of his birth, India.