Marc Forster

Born: 1969
Where: Ulm, Germany

The director was catapulted into the limelight with the accomplished drama Monster's Ball, for which Halle Berry won an Oscar for best actress.

Although born in Germany, he grew up in the Swiss Alps without a television and only became familiar with the screen while studying film at New York University.

Two documentary films were broadcast in Europe and in 1995 he worked on his first feature, Loungers, which won the Slamdance Audience Award.

That same year his feature Everything Put Together, a drama about cot death starring Radha Mitchell, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

In 2001, Monster's Ball, about a racist prison guard falling for Halle Berry's widow, won critical acclaim and a nomination for Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.

Forster then helmed Finding Neverland, a dramatisation of the life of Peter Pan creator JM Barrie, played by Johnny Depp.

Most recently, Forster was given directing duties on the latest James Bond movie, Quantum Of Solace, which will see Daniel Craig once more return to the role of the sophisticated secret agent.