Michael Winterbottom

Born: March 1961
Where: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK

Winterbottom has made his name as an intelligent British filmmaker of intense and often introspective relationship dramas.

He studied film in Bristol and London after completing a degree in English at Oxford and first worked in the industry when he got a job in the cutting room at Thames Television.

He made the transition to director via two well-received documentaries about Swedish film-maker Ingmar Bergman.

Small scale class struggle dramas followed before his two-hour premier of Robbie Coltrane's Cracker drew major attention.

A breakthrough, though, came with his four-part serial, Family, an acclaimed study of a dysfunctional Irish working-class family written by Roddy Doyle.

His first feature - Butterfly Kiss - showed a penchant for emotional extremes and flashy shock cuts and was followed by the bleak Go Now in 1995.

An adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel Jude the Obscure was followed by his disturbing examination of the effects of war - Welcome to Sarajevo - in 1997.

He went onto direct Steve Coogan as Manchester record boss and entrepreneur Tony Wilson in the engaging 24 Hour Party People.

The ever-resourceful director then changed tack again to produce the affecting refugee tale In This World.