Born in Bilbao, Pedro Olea began studying Economics although his passion for cinema led him to move to Madrid to study at the Official Film School (E.O.C.). He got the first success of his career with his third feature film The Ancines Woods (1970). In 1974 he began a fruitful professional relationship with producer José Frade and he shot with his production company such interesting proposals as Pim, pam, pum... Fire! (1975), or A Man Called Autumn Flower (1978).In the nineties he established himself in the Spanish film industry by filming films such as El día que nací yo (1991), The Fencing Master (1992), winner of three Goya awards, Zafarinas (1995) and Beyond the Garden (1996). Since 2000, the filmmaker alternates his usual work as director with that of producer.