Michael Hirst was born 21 September 1952 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. He is best known for his films Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), as well as The Tudors (2007–2010) and Vikings (2013–2020) Hirst owns Green Pavilion Entertainment, a production company he launched in December 2017. Hirst is one of the co-writers on the screenplay for the James Dalessandro book, 1906.