Harmony Korine was born in Bolinas, California in 1973. His family moved to the East Coast when he was five and he spent his early years in Nashville and New York. At the age of 19, he wrote the critically acclaimed screenplay Kids for director Larry Clark. At the time of release of Gummo, he is currently at work writing a new feature and a 10 part decalogue called Jokes to be financed through French investors.
Directed the video for Sonic Youth's "Sunday" starring Macaulay Culkin and Rachel Miner. Father Sol Korine made documentary films in Georgia for PBS. Wrote lyrics with Björk for her song "Harm of Will" on the album Vespertine Has claimed that The Basketball Diaries author Jim Carroll was in attendance at his birth and cut his umbilical cord. (Carroll was living in Bolinas at the time, as indicated in his book Forced Entries.) Carroll and Korine are now friends and collaborators. Attended high school at Hillsboro High School in Nashville, Tennessee. Attended film school at NYU but dropped out after only one semester. Has a tattoo of a trident on his right hand. Briefly changed his name to Laird Henn. It never stuck, but there is a song by the band 'Sun City Girls' that contains a phone message left by Harmony on one of the members' answering machines, where he introduces himself as Laird Henn.