Rodo Sayagues was born the 20th of February 1980 in Montevideo, Uruguay where he grew up. His father, a prominent lawyer, and his mother, an English teacher, were devoted art and culture consumers— inspiring their children to appreciate a variety of art forms, from classical literature and music to theatre and films.

At an early age, Sayagues developed a passion for cinema and music. First, growing musical abilities, he studied classical guitar and eventually modern music. He founded several rock bands with which he played until early adulthood, achieving a career in the local Uruguayan music scene. Music forged his friendship with his long-time creative partner, Fede Alvarez. Soon, they discovered a shared interest beyond music and began shooting homemade short films with a simple VHS camera.

Sayagues’s two passions eventually mixed, and he started shooting music videos for local rock bands, and in time, for more prominent Uruguayan musicians. Filming, which had been a hobby, gained real estate in his creative life. By 2007, Sayagues was directing commercials in the Uruguayan market, receiving several awards. Simultaneously, he and Alvarez were making more short films for which they won many awards, both locally and abroad.

After graduating film school, he and Alvarez started pursuing their lifetime dream: making a real movie. They wrote a script called “CORNED BEEF,” which earned them a scholarship at the BINGER INSTITUTE in Amsterdam, Netherlands. There, they improved their script and attended screenwriting master classes. The script went on to THE ROTTERDAM, BERLINALE and MAR DEL PLATA film festivals, allowing Alvarez and Sayagues to further hone their writing and storytelling skill sets. It was during this time, the idea for the short film “PANIC ATTACK” was born.

In November 2009, “PANIC ATTACK” was uploaded to YouTube and in a matter of days went viral. The short caught the attention of acclaimed filmmaker SAM RAIMI, who offered Sayagues and Alvarez a deal. After relocating to Los Angeles, they began working on a re-imagining of the cult horror classic, “THE EVIL DEAD.” The movie premiered at the SXSW Festival with horror critic acclaim and became a box office success scoring $100 million worldwide. Since the release of “THE EVIL DEAD,” Sayagues and Alvarez have continued developing high-priority, feature films with staple Hollywood studios including Sony, Universal, and MRC.

The duo quickly embarked on their next feature ”DON”T BREATHE” through Sony pictures, which went on to become a huge success both at a critics level and at the box office, raising 90 Million dollars domestic and 160 million worldwide. The film went on to win several awards, including the SATURN AWARD for Best Horror Movie in 2016. Rodo Sayagues continued working Along Fede Alvarez on the upcoming SONY release THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER WEB. A new installment on the GIRL WITH DRAGON TATTOO saga. In 2017, Rodo Sayagues and Fede Alvarez created BAD HOMBRE, a production company focused on producing high octane genre movies. Rodo Sayagues is also a dedicated musician, playing drums and guitar. He also teaches a screenwriting workshop once a year in South America and Europe.