Emmerich began his career in his native Germany. As a youth he pursued painting and sculpting. While enrolled in the director's program at film school in Munich, his student film, "The Ark Principle", went on to open the 1984 Berlin Film Festival. The feature became a huge success and was sold to more than 20 countries.
His movie Arche Noah Prinzip, Das is the most high budgeted film-school examination film (DEM 1,000,000) in Germany. [1984] He lists The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno and Earthquake (disaster movies) as his favourites. Brother of Ute Emmerich Frequently casts members of a particular group of actors in minor roles in his movies. This group includes 'John Storey' , 'David Pressman' , Erick Avari, Leon Rippy, Christopher John Fields, Derek Webster, Jack Moore and Steve Giannelli, among others. All of these actors appeared in at least three films directed by Emmerich, including Universal Soldier, Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla, and The Patriot. All of these films were produced by Centropolis Entertainment, the company co-founded by Emmerich and business partner Dean Devlin. Often uses extreme telephoto lenses with very deep focus in his shots so that all elements are in sharp focus.