Quentin Tarantino

Born: 27th March 1963
Where: Knoxville, Tennessee

The quintessential movie geek and indie director, Tarantino's shadow looms over Hollywood after his debut feature Reservoir Dogs was a critical smash.

Although he has only made four movies - including the two part Kill Bill - his visceral style of sharp dialogue married to violent action has a legion of fans.

Named after Gunsmoke's half-breed blacksmith Quint, he moved with his mother to LA's South Bay area aged two.

A high school dropout, he picked up much of his film education while working in a video shop and visiting local "grind houses" to see old kung fu movies.

With Video Archives co-workers Roger Avery and Jerry Martinez, he formed a film school and used the opportunity to write.

Then Tarantino and Avery were hired by producer John Langley, a regular customer who was impressed by the duo's film knowledge, to work as production assistants on a Dolph Lundgren exercise video.

This led to work at Cinetel Productions, where they met with producer Lawrence Bender and finished their screenplay for Reservoir Dogs.

The feature debut, a brutally violent crime drama starring Harvey Keitel, premiered at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival only to be snubbed by the jury.

Next he met future collaborator writer-director Robert Rodriguez at the Toronto Film Festival and in 1993 wrote the screenplay for True Romance.

This was followed by Natural Born Killers, helmed by Oliver Stone, who had the script extensively rewritten.

Tarantino returned to the director's chair for Pulp Fiction, an A-list affair starring Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson and Uma Thurman.

The movie, which premiered at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, won Tarantino an Oscar and Golden Globe for best screenplay.

As an actor, Tarantino began appearing in independent features like Sleep With Me and took the lead in the comic fantasy Destiny Turns on the Radio as well as Rodriguez's Desperado.

Segueing to TV, Tarantino made his directing debut with an episode of the hit medical drama ER, before returning to the screen as executive producer, writer and co-star of Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn.

For his follow-up feature, Tarantino adapted Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch and turned it into Jackie Brown.

Veteran blaxploitation actress Pam Grier won a SAG award nomination for the title role while co-star Robert Forster garnered a best supporting Oscar nod.

In 1998, Tarantino confounded everyone by starring on stage opposite Marisa Tomei in a revival of Wait Until Dark.

In 2003 - and again in 2004 with the sequel - he drew on his childhood obsession with martial arts movies to forge the two-part Kill Bill, with Uma Thurman as an assassin bride bent on revenge.