Roger Hawkins was born and brought up in Harare, Zimbabwe. After completing a BSc (Agric) at the University of Natal, he embarked on a career that included being a school teacher, advertising copywriter, fumigator, soil surveyor, research assistant, lounge pianist, and landscape gardener.

In 1993, Roger resigned from his job as a maths teacher and took the brave step of hiring the largest theatre in Zimbabwe for the purpose of staging a musical he had written and directed. The show, "The Singer", was a resounding success. This led to producing the TV series "Adventure Unlimited" and the TV movie "Choose Freedom", which Roger also co-wrote.

Roger then studied directing at the Raindance Film School and John Truby's Writers Studio, both in London. On his return to Harare, Roger wrote and directed Dr Juju, a 60-minute TV movie shot in six days, which was followed by the children's junkmation fable, "The Legend of the Sky Kingdom".

"The Silent Fall" is his first South African film.