Jason Reitman

Born: October 19 1977
Where: Montreal, Canada

The self-confessed "movie geek" has struck cinema gold with his first two features - Thank You For Smoking and Juno.

The son of comedy director Ivan "Ghostbusters" Reitman, the youngster was on his first movie set - Animal House - eleven days after his birth.

Growing up in Canada, he described himself during his childhood years as "a loser...a movie geek...shy" while spending a great deal of time on his father's sets.

In the late 1980s, Reitman began appearing in small acting parts and serving as a production assistant and learning the editing process.

At 15, he made an AIDS public service announcement using actors from his high school that went on to win awards and play on network TV.

He graduated from California's Harvard-Westlake School in 1995 and majored in English/Creative Writing at University of Southern California.

Reitman financed his first self-penned short Operation with money he made by selling adverts in desk calendars. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998.

Throughout his 20s, instead of accepting offers to make commercial feature films, Reitman continued making his own short films and directing commercials.

(he is reported to have twice declined the offer to direct Dude, Where's My Car?)

In 2004, he married writer Michele Lee,[2] with whom he co-wrote the comedic short Consent.

The following year, Reitman made his critically-acclaimed debut with an adaptation of the Christopher Buckley novel Thank You For Not Smoking.

The savage satire on America's lobbying industry, starring Aaron Eckhart, was a commercial success, making $24m and was also nominated for two Golden Globes.

In 2007, he scored his second triumph with Juno, an off-kilter drama penned by former stripper Diablo Cody, about teenage pregnancy.

The performance of Ellen Page in the lead role as the acerbic yet sweet-natured Juno attracted critical acclaim as well as a Golden Globe nomination for Cody.

Next up Reitman is set to produce and direct Banzai Shadowhands, a comedy about "a once-great ninja who is now living a life of mediocrity."