Born in Chinatown, Los Angeles, Charles de Lauzirika has been in love with fantastic cinema since he was a child, from his earliest exposure to kaiju movies and Universal classic monsters, to his first viewing of JAWS in a theater at age 7, still his favorite film of all-time.
After years of making super-8 and VHS short films, he took a big step out of his "movie bubble" at age 18, and ventured around Europe for most of a year, learning about other cultures and gaining invaluable life experience. Upon his return home, he got serious about his dream of becoming a filmmaker, eventually graduating magna cum laude in production at the USC School of Cinema-Television.
Lauzirika made his feature directorial debut with CRAVE, starring Josh Lawson, Emma Lung, Edward Furlong and Ron Perlman. The offbeat psychological thriller played at film festivals around the world, winning several awards, including the New Flesh Award for Best First Feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, and Best Director in the Next Wave category at Fantastic Fest in Austin.
Lauzirika also directed and co-wrote the award-winning short LOVE BITE (starring co-writer Carlee Baker and actor Cuyle Carvin), a horror satire about a dysfunctional couple of different political backgrounds arguing over the rules of how a zombie virus spreads during a global pandemic. LOVE BITE premiered just a couple months before COVID-19 first became known to the public.
Having directed commercials, short films and music videos over the years, he is perhaps best known for creating making-of content. He has produced over 100 behind-the-scenes documentaries and featurettes for films and TV shows such as BLADE RUNNER, TWIN PEAKS, the ALIEN Anthology, THELMA & LOUISE, 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, TOP GUN, and many others. He also served as restoration producer on BLADE RUNNER: The Final Cut, LEGEND: Director's Cut, and ALIEN 3: Assembly Cut, bringing previously unavailable "lost" versions of these cult classics to viewers.
His most recent short, the dark horror drama HONK, starring Zach Galligan (GREMLINS) and Tyler Mane (Michael Myers in Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN films) is currently playing at film festivals around the world. It won the Little Golden Skull Award for Best Short Film (Global) at the 2023 Morbido Film Festival.
Lauzirika now lives with his family in the Atlanta area.