Carroll Ballard

Born: October 14 1937
Where: Los Angeles, California, USA

The director is synonymous with visually impressive movies evoking the relationship between man and nature.

Notable successes include the Francis Ford Coppola produced The Black Stallion and more recently the family adventure Duma.

A graduate of the UCLA Film School, he first attracted attention for his nature documentaries for the US Information Agency.

These included Beyond This Winter's Wheat in 1965 and the following year's Harvest, which was nominated for an Oscar.

The Perils of Priscilla featured a lost cat seen from its point of view and Rodeo told the story of bull rider Larry Mahan.

In 1979, UCLA classmate Ford Coppola offered him the job of directing The Black Stallion, based on the Walter Farley novel.

Next up was Never Cry based on Farley Mowat's experiences studying wolves in the Arctic, starring Charles Martin Smith.

Nutcracker was a documentary-style glimpse at the ballet with Macaulay Culkin and The Wind, relying on impressive cinematography, starred Matthew Modine as a sailing competitor in the Americas Cup.

In 1996, Fly Away Home followed the fortunes of a lost flock of Canada geese while The Cruellest Winter charted the battle for survival of sled dogs in Alaska.

Recent work includes Duma, the story of a boy releasing his beloved cheetah back into the wild.