Tom Shadyac

Born: 1960

At the age of 23, Tom was the youngest staff joke writer on Bob Hope's team.

He received his master's degree in film from UCLA in 1989 after completing the critically acclaimed short, Tom, Dick and Harry, and then worked for Fox, rewriting and directing.

Tom Dabbled in stand-up comedy, and has guest-starred on TV programmes and in features.

His feature debut was Jocks in 1986, and in 1994 Tom hit the big time when he wrote and directed Jim Carrey's Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

The following year, Tom directed and co-wrote the remake of The Nutty Professor, starring Eddie Murphy.

The box office hit Patch Adams brought Tom further critical attention, and in 1999 he signed a three-year first-look agreement with Universal.

Most recently Tom has directed Kevin Costener in Dragonfly.