Bart Layton
Bartholomew Nicholas Layton (born 1975) is an English filmmaker. He rose to prominence as a documentarian, winning a BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut and a nomination for Best Documentary for The Imposter (2012). He then directed the 2018 film American Animals, a hybrid documentary/docudrama film based on the Transylvania University book heist.
Article
Bart Layton
Bartholomew Nicholas Layton (born 1975) is an English filmmaker. He rose to prominence as a documentarian, winning a BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut and a nomination for Best Documentary for The Imposter (2012). He then directed the 2018 film American Animals, a hybrid documentary/docudrama film based on the Transylvania University book heist.
Early life and education
Bart Layton
Layton was born in the Hammersmith district of London. Both of his parents were artists, one a sculptor and the other a painter and theatre director. Early in his life, he considered going into film or being a painter.
Career
Bart Layton
He made his directorial debut in 2012 with the true-crime story The Imposter. It is about Frédéric Bourdin, a French man who claimed to be a missing Texas teenager. Layton won a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for the film at the 2013 EE British Academy Film Awards.
He both wrote and directed American Animals. It depicts a 2004 book heist, with fictionalized versions and interviews with real people. Among the interviewees are the original criminals behind the heist. He had initially discovered the story in a magazine. The film was picked up by MoviePass.
In May 2018, he signed with the Creative Artists Agency.
As of 2018, Layton is the creative director of RAW, a British production company.
Filmography
Bart Layton
• Banged Up Abroad (2006–2022) • The Imposter (2012) • American Animals (2018) • Crime 101 (2026)