James Foley

Born: December 28 1953
Where: Brooklyn, New York, USA

Foley made his directorial breakthrough with Glengarry Glenn Rose, a clever examination of the duplicity of estate agents.

The movie, scriped by David Mamet, landed a best actor award for Jack Lemmon at the Venice Film Festival and an Oscar nomination for Al Pacino.

After studying film at New York University and in Los Angeles, he made his directorial debut with Reckless, a well-observed study of alienated youth.

He followed it up with At Close Range, an acclaimed thriller about the leader of a ennsylvania crime ring (Christopher Walken) and his son (Sean Penn).

Foley also directed Madonna's video for Live to Tell, the film's theme song.

"After Dark, My Sweet was one of several features made that year to be based on the cult pulp fiction of Jim Thompson.

After Glengarry Glen Ross, Foley helmed the forgettable Two Bits, the disappointing The Chamber with Gene Hackman and horror thriller Fear with Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon.

Recent work includes the lacklustre Corruptor, again starring Wahlberg, while Foley was on firmer ground with the caper comedy Confidence with Dustin Hoffman.