His parents were Joyce and Benet Hytner. His father was a barrister. Nicholas Hytner was brought up in Manchester. He went to Manchester Grammar School where he became friends with Steven Pimlot who was also later to become a stage director.
Nicholas Hytner then went to Trinity Hall, Cambridge to read English, and once again joined Steven Pimlot. They acted together alongside Declan Donnellan. Nicholas Hytner directed Brecht and a Footlights show.
After Cambridge his first paid job was assisting on productions at English National Opera. He went on to work in provincial theatres including Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre where he was Associate Director from 1985 to 1989.
He went to the Royal National Theatre in 1989 and became an Associate Director there in 1990. He stayed until 1997.
In 2000 he was appointed as the eleventh Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre. Within ten years he had directed over twenty productions, including several operas, some Shakespeare, the National Theatre staging of The Madness of George III, Miss Saigon, and Carousel.
