Nancy Meyers

Born: December 8 1949
Where: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The writer-turned-director has forged a successful career working in her own right after a series of hits with her ex-husband Charles Shyer.

As a team, they were responsible for the hits Private Benjamin, Baby Boom and Father of the Bride.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1972, Meyers worked as a production assistant on the gameshow The Price Is Right.

She met her future husband, Charles Shyer in 1976, and they married in 1995 (they are now separated).

The two first worked together on the Oscar-nominated hit comedy Private Benjamin in 1980, which they used as a showcase for Goldie Hawn.

They then provided the story for another Hawn comedy, Protocol, and three years later saw them collaborate on the successful feature, Baby Boom.

This film, starring Diane Keaton as a yuppie who finds herself an adoptive mum, was co-produced and written by Nancy and Shyer, who also directed it.

Their next film came in 1991, with the heart-warming family comedy Father of the Bride, starring Steve Martin.

The following year they signed a deal with Walt Disney Pictures which led to the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap, which also marked Meyers' directorial debut.

Her next effort was the romantic comedy What Women Want, starring Mel Gibson as an executive who can read womens' minds.

Recent work includes the critically-lauded Something's Gotta Give starring Jack Nicholson, Keanu Reeves and Oscar-nominated Diane Keaton.