Jon Amiel

Born: May 20 1948
Where: London, UK

Cambridge graduate Amiel has drifted away from accomplished documentaries such as The Silent Twins to standard Hollywood blockbuster fare like The Core.

After working in theatre for 10 years, including a spell at the RSC, Amiel decamped to the BBC, where he followed The Silent Twins with his dramatisation of Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective.

His 1989 debut feature Queen of Hearts opened the Cannes Film Festival and has since been voted one of the best 100 British movies of all time.

Tune in Tomorrow was his American debut, starring Keanu Reeves and Peter Falk, and he followed this with Sommersby, Copycat and The Man Who Knew Too Little.

Entrapment, starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones, was a box office hit and he recently helmed the eco-blockbuster The Core with Hilary Swank.