Jay Russell

Born: January 10 1960
Where: North Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

The director has the bizarre claim to fame that his first boss as a film-maker was former US president Bill Clinton.

As a 19-year-old he started out directing tourism commercials for the state of Arkansas, whose governor was none other than Clinton.

Subsequent big screen outings have grown from those early days to the hit comedy My Dog Skip and firefighting drama Ladder 49.

Russell graduated from Columbia University in 1984 with a MFA in screenwriting and directing, having studied with producer Michael Hausman and director Milos Forman.

His first film End Of The Line was a Sundance Institute project and was released in 1987.

He has since written projects for Imagine and Tristar pictures and has directed numerous documentaries for PBS, Discovery, Learning Channel and CBS.

In 2000, he directed and executive-produced the hit family film My Dog Skip, based on author William Morris's childhood memories.

He followed that with Tuck Everlasting, starring Ben Kingsley and Sissy Spacek and based on the award-winning book by Natalie Babbitt.

In 2004, he directed the workmanlike firefighting drama Ladder 49 with Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta.