Peter Flinth was born on 7 November 1964 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was admitted to the National Film School of Denmark and in the same time worked as an assistant director on a number of Danish feature films, including most notably Academy Award-nominated Dance of the Polar Bears and Ole Bornedal's Nightwatch, before graduating in 1993 with the short film Den Sidste Færge. He had his debut as a feature film director in 1997 with Eye of the Eagle.