Danny Boyle

Born: 20th October 1956
Where: Manchester, England, UK

The hard-hitting director exploded onto the international scene with his Scottish sex'n'drugs sensation Trainspotting in 1996.

He has since helmed high profile fare ranging the adaptation of Alex Garland's The Beach to the futuristic horror yarn 28 Days Later.

Boyle was educated at Thornleigh Salesian College and the University of Wales in Bangor.

Despite claiming to have never set foot in a cinema until he was 18, Boyle's first job was with the Joint Stock Theatre Company.

He subsequently moved to the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in 1982, where he was the Artistic Director, before moving to TV.

Work included the 1991 Inspector Morse: Masonic Mysteries, and the TV-movies The DeLorean Tapes and For the Greater Good.

He received £1m from Channel 4 and a Glasgow Film Grant, to make Shallow Grave written by John Hodge.

The film marked his feature directing debut, and won him a Silver Shell at the San Sebastian Film Festival and the Golden Hitchcock at Dinard for Best Direction.

Teaming up again with screenwriter Hodge, Boyle directed box office smash Trainspotting, a look at the heroin-infested underworld of Edinburgh.

In 1987, he cast Ewan McGregor opposite Cameron Diaz as mismatched lover for the less successful romantic comedy A Life Less Ordinary.

The same year he executive produced Twin Town, a Welsh film that featured much of the Boyle's trademark bleak humour.

After passing up the opportunity to direct the fourth Alien movie, Boyle opted to make The Beach.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a young American who encounters the darker side of human nature while backpacking through Asia, it suffered a critical mauling.

After the TV movies Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise and Strumpet, he scored a major success with the the post-apocalyptic 28 Days Later.

In 2005, Boyle tried his hand at kid's fare with Millions, a comedy-drama about two boys who discover a bag-full of cash just as the pound converts to the Euro.