Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, Liebesman studied filmmaking at the South African School of Film and Drama. In 1996, he enrolled at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
At Tisch, he wrote and directed an 8-minute short film, Genesis and Catastrophe, adapted from a Roald Dahl short story. The film was screened at numerous festivals around the world, and was winner of the best short at the Austin Film Festival in 2000, as well as earning Liebesman the "Hollywood Young Filmmaker Award" at the Hollywood Film Festival in 2000.
In 2003, at the age of 26, he directed his debut feature Darkness Falls. Although the film suffered from generally weak reviews, it opened at no. 1 at the US box office, and succeeded in recouping its $11 million production budget on its opening weekend in January 2003. The film grossed over $32.5 million at the US box office, and a further $15 million worldwide. The film was nominated for Best Horror/Thriller at the Teen Choice Awards in 2003, while the film’s star, Emma Caulfield, won Face of the Future from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films that year.
Liebesman’s next project, Rings (2005), which he co-wrote with Ehren Kruger, was a 15-minute short that chronologically follows the events of the full length feature, The Ring (2002 film)), and serves as a prequel to The Ring Two (2005). The short offered an insightful transition between the two movies, and garnered high praise from fans of both feature length films.
The films success brought him to the attention of Michael Bay and his production company, Platinum Dunes, who hired him to direct the Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel entitled The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning opened in US theatres on October 6, 2006, and proved another box office hit for Liebesman. The movie opened at no 2 at the US box office, recouping the $16 million production cost with its opening weekend gross of $18.5 million. As of 31 December 2006, the film had grossed around $50 million worldwide, including over $39.5 million in the US.
Liebesman is currently directing a political thriller entitled "The Killing Room". It was initially announced that Liebesman would be the director of the upcoming Friday the 13th remake but as of November 2007, Marcus Nispel, director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake of 2003, replaced Liebesman.
