Marsh began his early career in directing with several documentaries made for the BBC. His first TV documentary was the 90-minute
Troubleman – The Last Years of Marvin Gaye, and was followed by the 26-minute 1990 documentary
The Animator of Prague starring
Jan Švankmajer and his works. Later came
The Burger and the King: The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley, which was made in 1995 and released in 1996, and the Welsh musician
John Cale, which was made in 1998 and released in 1999. His relationship continued with the BBC as a director and producer for three
Arena series episodes, including the celebrated film
Wisconsin Death Trip (1999). In 2005 he directed the film
The King which was screened in the
Un Certain Regard section at the
2005 Cannes Film Festival. In 2008 he made the documentary
Man on Wire, about
Philippe Petit's walk between the Twin Towers of the
World Trade Center in New York. Marsh based
Man on Wire, in part, on Philippe Petit’s memoir
To Reach the Clouds.
Man on Wire won the
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 81st annual Oscars, the
BAFTA Award for Best British film, the
Independent Spirit Award, and many others. The film, called "exhilarating", has had a hugely positive audience response and was among the Top Ten Films of 2008 on many critics' lists. In 2009, he directed the "1980" episode of
Red Riding, which aired on
Channel 4 in the UK. He also directed
Project Nim in 2010, which is based on the book
Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human by Elizabeth Hess. It is a documentary about the landmark study conducted by
Herbert S. Terrace on the subject of
great ape language acquisition and the subject of the study is a chimpanzee named
Nim Chimpsky. Marsh watched different films to gain inspiration before making
Project Nim. He watched
E.T., Frederick Wiseman's
Primate, and the Bresson film
Au hasard Balthazar. He gained the most information from
Au hasard Balthazar, a fictional account of a donkey as it passes through various human owners. The structure of
Project Nim reflects a lot from this film as we see the drama of the human world through the eyes of the chimpanzee. In 2012, he directed
Shadow Dancer, a joint Irish/UK production about the Irish republican movement, which was filmed in Dublin and London. The film features
Clive Owen,
Andrea Riseborough,
Gillian Anderson,
Domhnall Gleeson and
Aidan Gillen. Marsh directed
The Theory of Everything released in 2014, a biopic on
Stephen Hawking starring
Eddie Redmayne and
Felicity Jones. Marsh received a nomination for the
BAFTA for
Best Director and the film was nominated for five
Academy Awards including
Best Picture. ==Personal life==