Joe Dante

Born: November 28 1946
Where: Morristown, New Jersey, USA

The movie buff-turned director made his debut thanks to a wager between producer friend Jon Davison and celebrated director Roger Corman.

Davison bet Corman he could shoot a film in a week for $50,000...and he lined up his old friend Dante to direct it.

Hollywood Boulevard was the result and Dante went on to make his directing debut proper with the low budget B-movie Piranha.

He followed it with werewolf tale The Howling - co-written by John Sayles - which brought him to the attention of Steven Spielberg.

He hired both Dante and Jon Davison to work on one segment of Twilight Zone - The Movie and then the big budget Gremlins in 1984.

Subsequent movies incuded the sci-fi thriller Innerspace with Dennis Quaid and the archly titled spoof Amazon Women on the Moon.

Tom Hanks starred in the comedy horror The 'burbs, a Gremlins sequel followed as well as the comedy drama Matinee with John Goodman.

Small Soldiers, with an early performance from Kirsten Dunst, was a critical hit, imaginatively featuring renegade toy troops running amok.

Recent work includes Haunted Lighthouse, featuring Christopher Lloyd and Rachel Hunter, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action with Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman.