Danish filmmaker and screenwriter Gabriel Axel is best known for directing the distinguished comedy drama Babette's Feast (1987) which won an Oscar and a British Academy Award for Best Foreign film. Though born in Denmark, Axel spent a good share of his youth in France. Later he studied drama at the Danish National Conservatory and launched his acting career in Paris and Copenhagen theaters. He began directing films during the late 1950s and over the last 30 years has become one of Denmark's most consistently competent filmmakers.