Paul McGuigan

Born: September 19 1963
Where: Bellshill, Scotland, UK

The director exploded onto the scene with the brutal thriller Gangster No 1 starring Paul Bettany as a psychopathic killer.

He has since consolidated his position as the most successful Scottish director working in Hollywood with Wicker Park and Lucky Number Slevin.

After beginning his career as a photographer in fashion and music, his first films were hard-hitting documentaries.

Subjects ranged from children with HIV (Playing Nintendo with God) to sectarianism in Scotland and Ireland (Football, Faith and Flutes).

In 1991, he went to South America where he shot a stylish, experimental short 16mm film which impressed executives at Channel 4.

His first major film was a collaboration with Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh on the adaptation of Irvine’s drug-fuelled Acid House.

McGuigan won the Best Film award at the New York Underground Film Festival for the movie, which starred Trainspotting's Ewen Bremner.

After the Sixties London-set Gangster No 1, he adapted Barry Unsworth's medieval whodunnit The Reckoning for the big screen.

Next up was Wicker Park, a romantic thriller starring Josh Hartnett and based on the French movie L'Appartement.

Recent work includes the thriller Lucky Number Slevin, starring Hartnett as well as Bruce Willis and Ben Kingsley.