Alexander Payne

Born: 1961
Where: Omaha, Nebraska

The Oscar-nominated film-maker - who had the critics (and the Academy) raving about Sideways - is on that rarefied list of directors that have last cut rights to their films.

He first attracted attention with the black comedy Election with Reese Witherspoon as the ruthlessly ambitious college girl.

Despite a short curriculum vitae, his subsequent uniquely stylised films - About Schmidt and Sideways - have attracted critical acclaim.

Of Greek background, Payne began making films when his restaurateur father received an 8mm camera from Kraft Foods in the early 1960s for good custom.

At six, he was making films before studying history and Spanish literature at Stanford University (he also spent time in Spain at the University of Salamanca).

In 1990 he graduated from the University College of Los Angeles' Film School after his thesis film The Passion of Martin earned him industry attention.

The film secured him a spot at the Sundance Film Festival and landed him a position at Universal Pictures.

In 1992, Payne and his buddy Jim Taylor were intrigued by the abortion debate and crafted a script that would become the social satire Citizen Ruth with Laura Dern.

She played a pregnant drifter addicted to glue who is given the choice of abortion after a judge rules she's not fit to look after a child.

Payne and Taylor re-teamed to write Election which established Witherspoon and also starred Matthew Broderick as the teacher determined to prevent her rise.

As a screenwriter, Payne also polished up the scripts for the comedy Meet The Parents and the action thriller Jurassic Park III.

In 2002, Jack Nicholson starred in About Schmidt as a retired office drone who realises he's been wasting his life and sets off to sabotage his daughter's wedding.

Payne's most recent work - Sideways - is regarded as his finest and stars Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church as a couple of friends following the Californian wine trail.