Brian De Palma

Born: 11th September 1940
Where: Newark, New Jersey

Brian studied physics at university but after joining a drama group he became interested in acting, made some short films, and switched his degree to fine arts.

Once touted as "the American Hitchcock," Brian remains one of the most controversial filmmakers on the contemporary screen.

His 1962 short, Wotan's Wake, won him several awards and his first feature film - The Wedding Party, which is best remembered as the feature debut of Robert De Niro and Jill Clayburgh.

Brian worked relentlessly on big projects with scriptwriters Paul Schrader, John Farris and Oliver Stone.

His homage to Hitchcock culminated in 1976 with Obsession, an uncredited remake of Vertigo.

Brian's commercial breakthrough came in 1976 with teen horror Carrie, based on the Stephen King novel. It was also the first of five movies directing then-wife Nancy Allen.

In 1979 he took a break from filmmaking to teach a master class, which wound up as a feature film called Home Movies starring Nancy and Kirk Douglas.

1980's Dressed to Kill, Brian's take on Psycho, was criticised for both its violence and sexual content.

But the extreme critical reaction convinced him to keep pushing the boundaries further, resulting in Blow Out, and Body Double, a thriller set in the porn industry.

He updated the 1930s gangster classic Scarface to contemporary Miami, with Al Pacino as a drug-crazed Cuban hero, and received the huge commercial success he needed with The Untouchables, featuring De Niro as Al Capone.

Brian went on to make the Vietnam War drama Casualties of War, a box-office flop, and then went on to helm The Bonfire of the Vanities.

He returned to familiar territory for the shocker Raising Cain in 1992, and took on a more ambitious project the following year with Carlito's Way, starring Pacino.

Brian recreated the buzz that surrounded popular TV series Mission: Impossible, when he directed a feature-length update starring Tom Cruise.