Shane Black

Born: December 16 1961
Where: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

The writer-turned-director scored a critical hit with his debut feature Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

The in-joke crammed noirish comedy starred Robert Downey Jr as a petty crook who gets involved with Hollywood sleaze when he lands a part in a movie.

Black was originally known as a highly-paid screenwriter and creator of the Lethal Weapon series as well as penning the scripts for The Last Boy Scout and Last Action Hero.

While growing up in Pittsburgh, the young Black wanted to act but ended up attending the University College of Los Angeles where he studied film.

He shared an apartment - christened Pad O'Guys - with future screenwriters Fred Dekker (The Monster Squad, Night of the Creeps and Robocop 3) and Ed Solomon (Men in Black, Charlie's Angels).

In 1987, while in his twenties, he sold the screenplay for Lethal Weapon, which turned into a starring vehicle for Mel Gibson as a slightly deranged cop.

The same year he had a minor role in Predator and also appeared in Dead Heat and Robocop 3.

However, it was his script-writing which was attracting attention and he continued penning the Lethal Weapon series as well as the Tony Scott-directed action drama The Last Boy Scout with Bruce Willis.

In 1993, he scripted the Arnold Schwarzenegger action drama Last Action Hero and three years later was paid $4m for the script of The Long Kiss Goodnight.

When the movie bombed, Black retired from the Hollywood scene reputedly due to professional pressures and contempt for the commerciality of his material.

In 2005, he returned to the fray with his directorial debut Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, starring Downey Jr, Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan.