Wes Anderson

Born: 1970
Where: Houston, Texas, USA

The former philosophy student is one of the few directors in Hollywood allowed to plough his own furrow with relatively little interference from studio bosses.

Wilfully quirky highlights from a small but perfectly formed handful of movies include The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

As a youngster he played with Super 8 cameras and even staged school plays that featured a glove puppet adaptation of the Kenny Rogers vehicle The Gambler.

Studying philosophy at the University of Texas in Austin, he met a kindred spirit in Owen Wilson, who shared his passion for cult 70s movies.

Staying on after graduation, Anderson worked on local public access television while Wilson performed in local theatre.

Anderson made his directorial debut in 1994 with Bottle Rocket, a 13-minute short co-written with and starring Owen Wilson and his brother Luke.

The film attracted the attention of veteran director James L Brooks and producer Polly Platt, who orchestrated backing from a major studio.

Two years later Anderson had the funds to expand the germ of the idea to feature length and the cast list grew to include Robert Musgrave and Ned Dowd.

Next up, Rushmore, a sublime black farce about a dreamy school kid starring Bill Murray and Olivia Williams, was a critical rave and announced Anderson had arrived.

Drawing on his new-found celebrity, Anderson was able to call on Gene Hackman and Gwyneth Paltrow among others for JD Salinger-inspired The Royal Tenenbaums.

In 2004, Owen Wilson gave up his usual co-writing credit for auteur Noah Baumbach to pen the offbeat nautical drama The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.