Tony Gilroy

Born:
Where: New York, USA

The acclaimed screenwriter made his Oscar-nominated directorial debut with the thriller Michael Clayton.

Before taking the director's chair, Gilroy was also a respected Hollywood writer for movies including the Bourne series as well as The Devil's Advocate.

The son of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Frank D Gilroy, his siblings are also in the film industry.

His brother Dan penned the scripts for Freejack and Two For The Money while his other brother worked as an editor on The Perfect You and Michael Clayton.

Gilroy made his writing debut with the 1992 Paul Michael Glaser sports drama The Cutting Edge before hooking up with regular collaborator Taylor Hackford for the 1995 thriller Dolores Clairborne.

Next came director Michael Apted's thriller Extreme Measures before Gilroy reteamed with Hackford for the legal drama The Devil's Advocate.

He subsequently adapted the Michael Bay blockbuster Armageddon before rejoining Hackford for the poorly received Proof Of Live with Russell Crowe.

In 2002, he crafted the screenplay for The Bourne Identity with Matt Damon and would subsequently script the two sequels by British director Paul Greengrass.

In 2007, he wrote and directed the corporate drama Michael Clayton starring George Clooney as a lawyer charged with investigating a deranged colleague.