Zack Snyder
Born: USA
The celebrated commercials director made his feature debut with a "re-envision" of George A Romero's classic Dawn of the Dead.
He trained as an artist at London's Heatherlies School and landed a place at Pasadena's Art Centre College of Design.
Specialising in advertising, he has shot films for Budweiser in China and for Compuware in the Costa Rican rainforest.
"Zombies present an anonymous enemy that doesn't rely on politics or skin colour to make you think, 'Oh, that's the bad guy.' They are clearly that - and they are everyone."
Snyder also filmed dynamic portraits of sports icons such as basketball star Michael Jordan and tennis ace Martina Navratilova.
