Lanthimos was born in Pangrati, Athens. He was raised mainly by his mother. His father, Antonis Lanthimos, was a professional basketball player who played for Pagrati B.C., Greece national basketball team and was also a basketball instructor at the Moraitis School. Having graduated from the Moraitis School he went on to study Business Administration and played for a period in Pagrati B.C. He eventually dropped out of everything and went on to study directing for film and television at the Hellenic Cinema and Television School Stavrakos (HCTSS) in Athens.\n', '

Through the 1990s he directed a series of videos for Greek dance-theater companies. Since 1995 he has directed a large number of TV commercials, in addition to music videos, short films and experimental theater plays. He was also a member of the creative team which designed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.\n', '

His feature film career started with the mainstream film My Best Friend where he shared directing credits with Lakis Lazopoulos and was followed by the experimental film Kinetta which premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. His third feature film Dogtooth won the Prix Un Certain Regard at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards. In 2010, he acted and co-produced Attenberg a Greek drama film directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari. His fourth feature film Alps (2011) won the Osella Award for Best Screenplay at the 68th Venice International Film Festival.\n', '

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