Christopher Nolan

Born: 30th July 1970
Where: London, UK

The acclaimed director hit a career high when he was picked to helm the arthouse blockbuster Batman Begins.

The $180m movie, starring Christian Bale as the Dark Knight, took a darker, back-to-basics approach to the Batman legend.

Nolan began making films at the age of seven using his father's super 8mm camera.

He spent three years living in Chicago, and made early films with Roko and Adrian Belic (the future Oscar nominees for the documentary Genghis Blues).

He studied English Literature at University College London while starting to make 16mm films at the college film society.

By the mid-90s, he teamed up with Jeremy Theobold who appeared in the shorts Larceny and Doodlebug, and who later produced and starred in Nolan's feature directorial debut, Following.

He gained funding during the 1999 Hong Kong Film Festival by asking the audience to donate money to his next film Memento, which was adapted from a short story by his younger brother Jonathan.

Memento earned great critical acclaim, earning Nolan the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.

He capitalized on his new found success by filming an English-language remake of the 1997 Norwegian crime thriller Insomnia, starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank.

In 2004, he began work on his re-invention of the Batman legend - Batman Begins - with Christian Bale as the Dark Knight.