Niall Johnson

Born: UK

The film-maker first grabbed the attention as a director for the Rowan Atkinson comedy Keeping Mum.

His other claim to fame was penning the script for the Michael Keaton thriller White Noise, which reached number two in the US box office.

Born and raised in The Midlands, Johnson began making home movies as a child and founded the Company of Youth theatre when he was just 14.

He made his directorial debut with COY productions of Private Lives and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

After studying film and drama at Bristol University he wrote, produced and directed the zero-budget video Dawn, a romantic vampire tale completed in 1991.

He made his feature debut proper in 1998 with the wife-swapping comedy drama The Big Swap and followed that with the family TV movie The Ghost of Greville Lodge.

After his success with White Noise, he made his big budget directorial debut with Keeping Mum, starring Atkinson as a cuckolded vicar.