Sverákis a Czech director who followed the footsteps of his father Zdenek Sverák, an actor and screenwriter. In 1983, Jan enrolled at the Prague film university and majored in documentary film. He graduated in 1988 and in the meantime made several short films, Sbohem, nadrazicko (1984), Vsak su vinar (1985), Vesmirna odysea II (1986) and Ropáci (Oil Gobblers, 1988). He made his feature film debut with the film Obecná skola (The Elementary School, 1991). Afterwards he made the comedy Akumulator 1 (Accumulator 1, 1994), Jizda (The Ride, 1994), Kolja (Kolya, 1996) that won the Oscar as the best film in 1997. His film Tmavomodrý svet (Dark Blue World, 2001), about war pilots, is the most expensive Czech film of all time.