Olivier Assayas
Born: January 25 1955
Where: Paris, France
The former film critic and screenwriter first attracted attention with his 1994 movie Cold Water.
The follow-up Irma Vep, starring Maggie Cheung and Jean-Pierre Leaud, won popular acclaim and was selected for the Cannes and New York film festivals.
After studying at the L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Assayas worked as a critic for the Cahiers du Cinema.
He also wrote screenplays for directors such as Laurent Perrin and Andre Techine with whom he shared a Cesar nomination for Rendez-Vous in 1985.
He made his directorial debut with the short Copyright and his first feature was Disorder in 1986.
In 1998, he looked a friends dealing with mortality in Late August, Early September.
Sentimental Destinations, starring Charles Berling and Emmanuelle Beart, was nominated for four Cesars.
In 2002, he made the underrated cyber porn thriller demonlover with Berling, Connie Nielsen and Chloe Sevigny.
Recent work includes the rock band drama Clean with ex-wife Maggie Cheung and Nick Nolte.
