John McTiernan

Born: January 8 1951
Where: Albany, New York

John McTiernan has directed some of the biggest box office hits in film history - the most notable of which being Die Hard.

Hollywood A-list stars such as Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have McTiernan to thank for supplying the hits that fired their careers.

He earned a fellowship from the American Film Institute, where he began his formal education in movie directing, and in 1997 received the American Film Industry's Award for Achievement in Directing.

After growing up in a small farm town, he followed his attraction to the stage and enrolled at Juilliard to study theatre directing, but soon realised his interest lay in film.

In 1986 McTiernan wrote and directed his first feature film, the science fiction-fantasy Nomads starring a young Pierce Brosnan.

The movie was well received at the Cannes Film Festival and it led directly to his first major studio film - Predator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He followed Die Hard with an adaptation of Tom Clancy's best-seller The Hunt for Red October, starring Alec Baldwin and Sean Connery, whom he would later direct in Medicine Man.

John reteamed with Schwarzenegger, acting as producer and director on The Last Action Hero, and worked again as producer/director on the international hit Die Hard With A Vengeance.

He enjoyed more success with the stylish and witty 1999 version of The Thomas Crown Affair, starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. However, his touch appeared to falter with the tepid remake of Rollerball and the lacklustre thriller Basic, with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Basic.