Paul Verhoeven

Born: 18th July 1938
Where: Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Dutch master of violent sci-fi thrillers underpinned with a satirical intelligence made his breakthrough with the groundbreaking RoboCop.

The 1987 movie starred Peter Webber as the part man, part machine "future of law enforcement" Detroit cop.

Other Verhoeven successes have ranged from the erotically-charged psychological thriller Basic Instinct to the splendid parody of America's bully boy tendency Starship Troopers.

Verhoeven graduated from the University of Leiden with a degree in maths and physics, and entered the Royal Dutch Navy, where he began his film career by making documentaries for the Navy and later for TV.

In 1969 he directed the popular Dutch TV series Floris, about a medieval knight, and his feature debut came two years later with What do I See?

However, it was Turkish Delight, Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Film, which established the director. (the movie was also honoured as Best Dutch Film of the Century).

In 1977, Soldier of Orange looked at the Dutch role in World War II - a theme he would return to thirty years later in Black Book.

His first major studio film - 1985's Flesh + Blood - starred Jennifer Jason Leigh and regular Verhoeven star Rutger Hauer as the leader of a group of mercenaries.

However, it was RoboCop which established the director and three years later he consolidated his success with the Philip K Dick sci-fi thriller Total Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Basic Instinct (1992) starred Sharon Stone as a Catherine Trammell, the seductively manipulative novelist who plays cat and mouse with Michael Douglas's detective.

The movie, written by Joe Esterhaz, became notorious for the scene where Stone uncrosses her legs and reveals she is naked from the waist down.

Verhoeven'e next project - Showgirls - was not so successful. It followed the saucy misadventures of a wannabe dance (Elizabeth Berkley) who has naked ambitions as a Las Vegas showgirl.

The film bombed at the box office and Verhoeven made award ceremony history when he personally accepted the "worst director" award at The Razzles.

However, he rebounded in 1997 with the sci-fi action movie Starship Troopers, a broad satire on American militarism.

Three years later he made the sci-fi horror thriller Hollow Man, starring Kevin Bacon who discovers a formula for invisibility...and then goes mad.

In 2006, Verhoeven returned to his homeland to make the World War II thriller Black Book, starring Carive Van Houten as a Jewish refugee who joins the Dutch Resistance.