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Best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear, storytelling, acclaimed Academy Award winner writer/director/producer Sir Christopher Nolan CBE was born in London, England. Over the course of more than 25 years of filmmaking, Nolan has gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the biggest blockbusters ever made and became one of the most celebrated filmmakers of modern cinema.
At 7 years old, Nolan began making short films with his father's Super-8 camera. While studying English Literature at University College London, he shot 16-millimeter films at U.C.L.'s film society, where he learned the guerrilla techniques he would later use to make his first feature, Following (1998), on a budget of around $6,000. The noir thriller was recognized at a number of international film festivals prior to its theatrical release and gained Nolan enough credibility that he was able to gather substantial financing for his next film.
Nolan's second film was Memento (2000), which he directed from his own screenplay based on a short story by his brother Jonathan Nolan. Starring Guy Pearce, the film brought Nolan numerous honors, including Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay. Nolan went on to direct the critically acclaimed psychological thriller, Insomnia (2002), starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank.
The turning point in Nolan's career occurred when he was awarded the chance to revive the Batman franchise in 2005. In Batman Begins (2005), Nolan brought a level of gravitas back to the iconic hero, and his gritty, modern interpretation was greeted with praise from fans and critics alike. Before moving on to a Batman sequel, Nolan directed, co-wrote, and produced the mystery thriller The Prestige (2006), starring Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as magicians whose obsessive rivalry leads to tragedy and murder.
In 2008, Nolan directed, co-wrote, and produced The Dark Knight (2008). Co-written with by his brother Jonathan, the film went on to gross more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Nolan was nominated for a Directors Guild of America (D.G.A.) Award, Writers Guild of America (W.G.A.) Award and Producers Guild of America (P.G.A.) Award, and the film also received eight Academy Award nominations. The film is widely considered one of the best comic book adaptations of all times, with Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker receiving an extremely high acclaim. Ledger posthumously became the first Academy Award winning performance in a Nolan film.
In 2010, Nolan captivated audiences with the Sci-Fi thriller Inception (2010), starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role, which he directed and produced from his own original screenplay that he worked on for almost a decade. The thought-provoking drama was a worldwide blockbuster, earning more than $800,000,000 and becoming one of the most discussed and debated films of the year, and of all times. Among its many honors, Inception received four Academy Awards and eight nominations, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay. Nolan was recognized by his peers with a W.G.A. Award accolade, as well as D.G.A. and P.G.A. Awards nominations for his work on the film.
As one of the best-reviewed and highest-grossing movies of 2012, The Dark Knight Rises (2012) concluded Nolan's Batman trilogy. Due to his success rebooting the Batman character, Warner Bros. enlisted Nolan to produce their revamped Superman movie Man of Steel (2013), which opened in the summer of 2013. In 2014, Nolan directed, wrote, and produced the Science-Fiction epic Interstellar (2014), starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. released the film on November 5, 2014, to positive reviews and strong box-office results, grossing over $670 million dollars worldwide.
In July 2017, Nolan released his acclaimed War epic Dunkirk (2017), that earned him his first Best Director nomination at the Academy Awards, as well as winning an additional 3 Oscars. In 2020 he released his mind-bending Sci-Fi espionage thriller Tenet (2020) starring John David Washington in the lead role. Released during the COVID-19 pandemic, the movie grossed relatively less than Nolan's previous blockbusters, though it did do good numbers compared to other movies in that period of time. Hailed as Nolan's most complex film yet, the film was one of Nolan's less-acclaimed films at the time, yet slowly built a fan-base following in later years.
In July 2023, Nolan released his highly acclaimed biographic drama Oppenheimer (2023) starring Nolan's frequent collaborator Cillian Murphy- in the lead role for the first time in a Nolan film. The movie was a cultural phenomenon that on top of grossing almost 1 billion dollars at the Worldwide Box office, also swept the 2023/2024 award-season and gave Nolan his first Oscars, BAFTAs, Golden Globes, D.G.A. and P.G.A. Awards, as well as a handful of regional critics-circles awards and a W.G.A. nomination. Cillian's performance as quantum physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer was highly acclaimed as well, and became the first lead performance in a Nolan film to win the Academy Award.
During 2023, Nolan also received a fellowship from the British Film Institute (BFI). In March 2024, it was announced that Nolan is to be knighted by King Charles III and from now on will go by the title 'Sir Christopher Nolan'.
Nolan resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife, Academy Award winner producer Dame Emma Thomas, and their children. Sir Nolan and Dame Thomas also have their own production company, Syncopy.- Writer
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Guy Ritchie was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK on September 10, 1968. After watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) as a child, Guy realized that what he wanted to do was make films. He never attended film school, saying that the work of film school graduates was boring and unwatchable. At 15 years old, he dropped out of school and in 1995, got a job as a runner, ultimately starting his film career. He quickly progressed and was directing music promos for bands and commercials by 1995.
The profits that he made from directing these promos was invested into writing and making the film The Hard Case (1995), a 20-minute short film that is also the prequel to his debut feature Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Sting's wife, Trudie Styler, saw The Hard Case (1995) and invested in the feature film. Once completed, 10 British distributors turned the film down before it eventually was released in the UK in 1998 and in the US in 1999; the film put Ritchie on the map as one of the hottest rising filmmakers of the time, and launched the careers of actors Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng, and Vinnie Jones, among others.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) was followed by Snatch (2000), this time with a bigger budget and a few more familiar faces such as Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina, Benicio Del Toro alongside returning actors Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones and Jason Flemyng. At the end of 2000, Ritchie married the pop superstar Madonna in Scotland, and proceeded to work with his famous wife on a variety of film and video projects, including the short Star (2001), made for BMW and co-starring Clive Owen, and the controversial video "What It Feels Like for a Girl," which was called out for its violence. In 2002, the couple embarked on a remake of the 1974 Lina Wertmüller film Swept Away (2002); the new film was a critical and commercial flop, winning five Razzie Awards. Ritchie followed up with the Vegas heist film Revolver (2005), which was panned, but won favor with the crime thriller RocknRolla (2008), which featured a game, energetic cast and brought American attention to rising stars Gerard Butler and Tom Hardy.
The next year saw the release of Sherlock Holmes (2009), starring Robert Downey Jr. in the title role and Jude Law as his cohort Dr. Watson. The film received mostly good reviews but, more important for Ritchie's career, was a solid blockbuster hit that grossed more than $520 million dollars worldwide and spawned a sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011). Ritchie is tentatively scheduled to direct an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
Ritchie has two sons with Madonna: Rocco, born in 2000, and an adopted son, David, born in 2005. In late 2008, the couple confirmed reports that they were splitting up, and agreed to a divorce settlement that was finalized in December of that year. In September 2011, Ritchie's girlfriend, model Jacqui Ainsley, gave birth to a son, Rafael, and in July 2012 the couple announced they were expecting their second child.- Producer
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Highly inventive U.S. film director/producer/writer/actor Sam Raimi first came to the attention of film fans with the savage, yet darkly humorous, low-budget horror film, The Evil Dead (1981). From his childhood, Raimi was a fan of the cinema and, before he was ten-years-old, he was out making movies with an 8mm camera. He was a devoted fan of The Three Stooges, so much of Raimi's film work in his teens, with good friends Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert, was slapstick comedy based around what they had observed from "Stooges" movies.
Among the three of them, they wrote, directed, produced and edited a short horror movie titled Within the Woods (1978), which was then shown to prospective investors to raise the money necessary to film The Evil Dead (1981). It met with lukewarm interest in the U.S. with local distributors, so Raimi took the film to Europe, where it was much more warmly received. After it started gaining positive reviews and, more importantly, ticket sales upon its release in Europe, U.S. distributors showed renewed interest, and "Evil Dead" was eventually released stateside to strong box office returns. His next directorial effort was Crimewave (1985), a quirky, cartoon-like effort that failed to catch fire with audiences. However, he bounced back with Evil Dead II (1987), a racier and more humorous remake/sequel to the original "Dead" that did even better at the box office. Raimi was then given his biggest budget to date to shoot Darkman (1990), a comic book-style fantasy about a scarred avenger. The film did moderate business, but Raimi's strong visual style was evident throughout the film via inventive and startling camera work that caught the attention of numerous critics.
The third chapter in the Evil Dead story beckoned, and Raimi once again directed buddy Campbell as the gritty hero "Ash", in the Gothic horror Army of Darkness (1992). Raimi surprised fans when he took a turn away from the fantasy genre and directed Gene Hackman and Sharon Stone in the sexy western, The Quick and the Dead (1995); four years later, he took the directorial reins on A Simple Plan (1998), a crime thriller about stolen money, starring Bill Paxton and Bridget Fonda. In early 1999, he directed the baseball film, For Love of the Game (1999), and, in 2000, returned to the fantasy genre with a top-flight cast in The Gift (2000). In 2002, Raimi was given a real opportunity to demonstrate his dynamic visual style with the big-budget film adaptation of the Stan Lee comic book superhero, Spider-Man (2002), and fans were not disappointed. The movie was strong in both script and effects, and was a runaway success at the box office. Of course, Raimi returned for the sequel, Spider-Man 2 (2004), which surpassed the original in box-office takings.- Writer
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Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of 1992, first-time writer-director Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992) appeared at the Sundance Film Festival. The film garnered critical acclaim and the director became a legend immediately. Two years later, he followed up Dogs success with Pulp Fiction (1994) which premiered at the Cannes film festival, winning the coveted Palme D'Or Award. At the 1995 Academy Awards, it was nominated for the best picture, best director and best original screenplay. Tarantino and writing partner Roger Avary came away with the award only for best original screenplay. In 1995, Tarantino directed one fourth of the anthology Four Rooms (1995) with friends and fellow auteurs Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Allison Anders. The film opened December 25 in the United States to very weak reviews. Tarantino's next film was From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), a vampire/crime story which he wrote and co-starred with George Clooney. The film did fairly well theatrically.
Since then, Tarantino has helmed several critically and financially successful films, including Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2015).- Producer
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David Owen Russell is an American film writer, director, and producer, known for a cinema of intense, tragi-comedic characters whose love of life can surpass dark circumstances faced in very specific worlds. His films address such themes as mental illness as stigma or hope; invention of self and survival; the family home as nexus of love, hate, transgression, and strength; women of power and inspiration; beauty and comedy found in twisted humble circumstances; the meaning of violence, war, and greed; and the redemptive power of music above all.
Russell has been nominated for five Academy Awards® and four Golden Globes®. He has won four Independent Spirit Awards and two BAFTA Awards. He has been nominated for three WGA awards and two DGA awards. He has collaborated with actors Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Jennifer Lawrence, and Mark Wahlberg, on three films each, and with Christian Bale and Amy Adams, on two films each. Jennifer Lawrence won the Academy Award for Best Actress in Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and Christian Bale and Melissa Leo won for best supporting actor and actress in The Fighter (2010). Russell is the only director to have two consecutively-released films (Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and _American Hustle (2013)_ qv) garner Academy Award® nominations in all four acting categories. Jennifer Lawrence earned an Academy Award® nomination and Golden Globe® win for Best Actress for her work in Russell's most recent film Joy (2015). To date Russell's films have garnered a total of 26 Academy Award nominations and 19 Golden Globe nominations. In 2016, the Art Directors Guild honored Russell with the Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award.
Russell is a board member and longtime supporter of the Ghetto Film School, which helps develop and support emerging filmmakers in the South Bronx and runs the nation's first film public high school. He also has been an ardent supporter of the Glenholme School, a therapeutic boarding school for children and young adults with special educational needs. He was instrumental in raising funds to build a new arts center at Glenholme that opened in 2011. Glenholme honored Russell in 2011 with the Bowen Award for Outstanding Support and in 2015 with the Doucette Award for Longstanding Commitment.
Russell was recently honored by the renowned McLean Hospital for his efforts to advance public awareness of mental health issues through advocacy and his 2012 film Silver Linings Playbook. The director has been open about his own family's experiences with mental illness. His advocacy efforts brought him to Washington where he and actor Bradley Cooper supported legislation in Congress and met with Vice President Joe Biden to also discuss parity for mental health in all health care.
Born in New York City, Russell attended public schools in Mamaroneck, NY. He continued his education at Amherst College, where he majored in literature and political science, and was given an honorary degree in 2002. He started as a writer before making his first documentary short about the Hispanic immigrant community in Boston. He earned critical acclaim early in his career in 1994 when he wrote and directed his first feature film, Spanking the Monkey, which won the Audience Award at Sundance and two Independent Spirit Awards for Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay. Russell's early films include Three Kings (1999) and Flirting with Disaster (1996).- Producer
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Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan's garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later provided the inspiration for several of his films. Scorsese earned a B.S. degree in film communications in 1964, followed by an M.A. in the same field in 1966 at New York University's School of Film. During this time, he made numerous prize-winning short films including The Big Shave (1967), and directed his first feature film, Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967).
He served as assistant director and an editor of the documentary Woodstock (1970) and won critical and popular acclaim for Mean Streets (1973), which first paired him with actor and frequent collaborator Robert De Niro. In 1976, Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), also starring De Niro, was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and he followed that film with New York, New York (1977) and The Last Waltz (1978). Scorsese directed De Niro to an Oscar-winning performance as boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980), which received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and is hailed as one of the masterpieces of modern cinema. Scorsese went on to direct The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995) and Kundun (1997), among other films. Commissioned by the British Film Institute to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of cinema, Scorsese completed the four-hour documentary, A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995), co-directed by Michael Henry Wilson.
His long-cherished project, Gangs of New York (2002), earned numerous critical honors, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Director; the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator (2004) won five Academy Awards, in addition to the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for Best Picture. Scorsese won his first Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed (2006), which was also honored with the Director's Guild of America, Golden Globe, New York Film Critics, National Board of Review and Critic's Choice awards for Best Director, in addition to four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Scorsese's documentary of the Rolling Stones in concert, Shine a Light (2008), followed, with the successful thriller Shutter Island (2010) two years later. Scorsese received his seventh Academy Award nomination for Best Director, as well as a Golden Globe Award, for Hugo (2011), which went on to win five Academy Awards.
Scorsese also serves as executive producer on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010) for which he directed the pilot episode. Scorsese's additional awards and honors include the Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival (1995), the AFI Life Achievement Award (1997), the Honoree at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's 25th Gala Tribute (1998), the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award (2003), The Kennedy Center Honors (2007) and the HFPA Cecil B. DeMille Award (2010). Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio have worked together on five separate occasions: Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).- Producer
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Gregory David Weisman grew up in Woodland Hills, California with his parents, younger sister and younger brother, Jon Weisman. After graduating from college, Greg moved to New York City to work for DC Comics, where he worked on Captain Atom, among other titles. He soon moved back to L.A. to go to graduate school.
In 1989, he became a creative executive at Disney, working on such shows as DuckTales (1987), Raw Toonage (1992) and Bonkers (1993). Greg's big break came in 1994, when his brand new show, Gargoyles (1994), debuted. After working on 66 of Gargoyles (1994)' episodes, he left the show and Disney when his contract was not renewed in 1996. He has since worked on such shows as Max Steel (2000) and Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles (1999). You can probably catch him answering questions on Station Eight's Ask Greg Forum.- Producer
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Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California, to Jean Rae (Erickson), who owned a cat-themed gift shop, and William Reed Burton, who worked for the Burbank Park and Recreation Department. He spent most of his childhood as a recluse, drawing cartoons, and watching old movies (he was especially fond of films with Vincent Price). When he was in the ninth grade, his artistic talent was recognized by a local garbage company, when he won a prize for an anti-litter poster he designed. The company placed this poster on all of their garbage trucks for a year. After graduating from high school, he attended California Institute of the Arts. Like so many others who graduated from that school, Burton's first job was as an animator for Disney.
His early film career was fueled by almost unbelievable good luck, but it's his talent and originality that have kept him at the top of the Hollywood tree. He worked on such films as The Fox and the Hound (1981) and The Black Cauldron (1985), but had some creative differences with his colleagues. Nevertheless, Disney recognized his talent, and gave him the green light to make Vincent (1982), an animated short about a boy who wanted to be just like Vincent Price. Narrated by Price himself, the short was a critical success and won several awards. Burton made a few other short films, including his first live-action film, Frankenweenie (1984). A half-hour long twist on the tale of Frankenstein, it was deemed inappropriate for children and wasn't released. But actor Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) saw Frankenweenie (1984), and believed that Burton would be the right man to direct him in his first full-length feature film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985). The film was a surprise success, and Burton instantly became popular. However, many of the scripts that were offered to him after this were essentially just spin-offs of the film, and Burton wanted to do something new.
For three years, he made no more films, until he was presented with the script for Beetlejuice (1988). The script was wild and wasn't really about anything, but was filled with such artistic and quirky opportunities, Burton couldn't say no. Beetlejuice (1988) was another big hit, and Burton's name in Hollywood was solidified. It was also his first film with actor Michael Keaton. Warner Bros. then entrusted him with Batman (1989), a film based on the immensely popular comic book series of the same name. Starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, the film was the most financially successful film of the year and Burton's biggest box-office hit to date. Due to the fantastic success of his first three films, he was given the green light to make his next film, any kind of film he wanted. That film was Edward Scissorhands (1990), one of his most emotional, esteemed and artistic films to date. Edward Scissorhands (1990) was also Burton's first film with actor Johnny Depp. Burton's next film was Batman Returns (1992), and was darker and quirkier than the first one, and, while by no means a financial flop, many people felt somewhat disappointed by it. While working on Batman Returns (1992), he also produced the popular The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), directed by former fellow Disney Animator Henry Selick. Burton reunited with Johnny Depp on the film Ed Wood (1994), a film showered with critical acclaim, Martin Landau won an academy award for his performance in it, and it is very popular now, but flopped during its initial release. Burton's subsequent film, Mars Attacks! (1996), had much more vibrant colors than his other films. Despite being directed by Burton and featuring all-star actors including Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan and Michael J. Fox, it received mediocre reviews and wasn't immensely popular at the box office, either.
Burton returned to his darker and more artistic form with the film Sleepy Hollow (1999), starring Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci and Casper Van Dien. The film was praised for its art direction and was financially successful, redeeming Burton of the disappointment many had felt by Mars Attacks! (1996). His next film was Planet of the Apes (2001), a remake of the classic of the same name. The film was panned by many critics but was still financially successful. While on the set of Planet of the Apes (2001), Burton met Helena Bonham Carter, with whom he has two children. Burton directed the film Big Fish (2003) - a much more conventional film than most of his others, it received a good deal of critical praise, although it disappointed some of his long-time fans who preferred the quirkiness of his other, earlier films. Despite the fluctuations in his career, Burton proved himself to be one of the most popular directors of the late 20th century. He directed Johnny Depp once again in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), a film as quirky anything he's ever done.- Writer
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Jim Lee is a Korean American comic-book writer and artist. He started his professional career in 1987, as a new artist for Marvel Comics. By the early 1990s, he had become one of the most popular artists in the field. His work on the X-Men broke sales records, and the costumes he designed for various team members defined their looks for at least a decade. In 1992, Lee became a co-founder of Image Comics. From 1992 to 1998, Lee was the owner and publisher of WildStorm Productions. In 1998, Lee sold WildStorm to DC Comics. WildStorm continued to exist as a DC imprint from 1998 to 2010, with Lee continuing to run the company. From 2010 to 2020, Lee served as a co-publisher of DC Comics, running the company alongside his then-partner Dan DiDio. In 2020, Lee became DC's sole publisher.
In 1964, Lee was born in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. His family soon moved to the United States, and Lee was primarily raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States c. 1976, when he was 12-years-old. He first learned the Korean language in early childhood, and learned English as a secondary language. He was raised in a typical middle-class family.
Lee attended the River Bend Elementary School, located in Chesterfield, Missouri. He received his secondary education at the Saint Louis Country Day School, an all-boys school located in Ladue, Missouri. The school had grades from junior kindergarten to grade 12. Lee's first artistic activity was drawing posters for school plays.
As a school student, Lee reportedly felt as an outsider. He was a middle-class student in an upper-class school with a "preppy" style. His feelings of being an outsider influenced his reading habits. He was interested in comic books about outsider characters. His favorite characters were the X-Men, an entire group of outcasts.
While Lee designed art as a hobby, he was not initially interested in a professional career as an artist. Following his high school graduation, he enrolled at Princeton University to study psychology. He graduated with a psychology degree, but felt reluctant to then attend medical school. He decided to try to become a professional comic book artist, although he lacked professional training at the time.
Lee submitted artwork to various publishers, but nobody was interested in hiring him. A number of professional comics artists advised him to contact editors in person. While attending a comics convention in New York, Lee was introduced to veteran comics writer Archie Goodwin (1937-1998). Goodwin at the time served as an editor for Marvel Comics, and helped Lee to get hired by Marvel.
Lee's first professional assignment was serving as an artist for the series "Alpha Flight", featuring a group of Canadian superheroes. He served as a regular artist for the team book (on-and-off) from issue #53 to issue #64 (December, 1987-November, 1988).. He continued serving as a cover artist for the series until 1990.
His second assignment was becoming an artist for the series "Punisher: War Journal", featuring the lethal vigilante Punisher/Frank Castle. He served as a regular artist from issue #4 to issue #19 (March, 1989-June, 1990). His artwork for the title showcased Lee's inspiration from the works of Frank Miller, Kevin Nowlan, Whilce Portacio, and David Ross. It was also influenced by Lee's affection for Japanese manga.
Lee first got to work in an X-Men title when asked to draw "Uncanny X-Men" #248 (September, 1989). Lee was filling-in for the series' regular artist at the time, Marc Silvestri (1958-). Lee was then asked to draw issues #256-258 (December, 1989-February, 1990), covering a multi-part story that was part of the crossover "Acts of Vengeance". The issues marked the return of the missing character Psylocke/ Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock. In the period since her disappearance, Psylocke had mysteriously lost her original body, acquired a new Asian body, and acquired new ninja skills. Lee got to essentially redesign the character in an entirely new form. He also designed two new costumes for her, including her classic ninja outfit.
Lee was eventually promoted to the position of main artist for "Uncanny X-Men" , at the time one of Marvel's high-profile titles. He served in this position from issue #267 to issue #277 (September, 1990-June, 1991) . He worked with writer Chris Claremont (1950-) and inker Scott Williams. During his run of the title, Lee co-created the Cajun thief Gambit/Remy LeBeau. Created as a new member of the X-Men's supporting cast, Gambit eventually joined the team, and became one of its most popular members.
Lee's art style was enthusiastically received by readers, and he was soon considered one of Marvel's most popular artists. In 1991, Marvel launched a second ongoing X-Men title, simply called "X-Men" vol. 2. Lee served as the title's co-writer and main artist from issue #1 to issue #11 (October, 1991-August, 1992). The fist issue had sales of over 8.1 million copies, becoming the new record holder for best-selling issues.
During his ran on "X-Men" vol. 2, Lee designed new uniforms for the team. This included popular and long-lasting costumes for Cyclops/Scott Summers, Phoenix/Jean Grey, Rogue/Anna Marie, and Storm/Ororo Munroe. These costume designs were later used for "X-Men: The Animated Series" (1992-1997).
Lee created relatively few new characters for the X-Men. Among his creations for the title were Anne Marie Cortez (in issue #1), Fabian Cortez (in issue #1), Chrome/Allen Marc Yuricic (in issue #1), Harry Delgado (in issue #1), Marco Delgado (in issue #1), Nance Winters (in issue #1), Omega Red/Arkady Rossovich (in issue #4), Maverick/Christoph Nord (in issue #5), Janice Hollenbeck (in issue #5), Arthur Barrington (in issue #6), Birdy (in issue #6), Meek (in issue #7), Belladonna/Bella Donna Boudreaux (in issue #8), and Julien Boudreaux (in issue #8).
In the early 1990s, there were tensions within Marvel Comics because of the company's work-for-hire policies. The company heavily merchandised the artwork of their most prominent artists, but compensated these artists with modest royalties. Disgruntled with their relatively meager earnings and their lack of copyright over characters and concepts which they created, a number of these artists eventually broke away from Marvel. Lee was among them. He co-founded Image Comics with his then-partners : Erik Larsen (1962-), Rob Liefeld (1967-), Todd McFarlane (1961-) , Whilce Portacio (1963-), Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino (1952-).
Image Comics devoted itself to publishing creator-owned titles. Each image partner (except Portacio) also established their own company, with each of the 6 companies publishing their titles under the Image banner. These companies were autonomous from any central editorial control, and did not operate as subsidiaries of Image. Lee initially named his company Aegis Entertainment, but quickly renamed it to WildStorm Productions.
WildStorm's initial title was "Wildcats" (sometimes rendered "WildCats" or "WildC.A.T.s"), featuring a team of eponymous superheroes. The characters involved were created by Lee himself and his friend Brandon Choi. The concept of the series involved a centuries-long war between two alien races which secretly lived on Earth, the Kherubim and Daemonites. The Wildcats were mostly composed of Kherubim-human hybrids. The Kherubim were humanoid in appearance, nearly immortal, and rendered nearly sterile over the centuries. Only one in 10,000 Kherubim females was capable of giving birth. Kherubim hybrids were seemingly more fertile than their ancestors. The Daemonites were reptilian in appearance, and they were a parasitic race. They survived by taking over host bodies from various species. They also had various powers, most prominently telepathy.
"Wildcats" was a commercially successful title, and WildStorm was then able to produce more titles. Lee created or co-created such characters as the super-powered soldier and mercenary Deathblow/Michael Cray, the teenage superhero team Gen¹³, and the United Nations-sponsored heroic team Stormwatch. They all starred in their own series.
In 1993, Lee negotiated a deal with Valiant Comics for a crossover series featuring characters from both companies. The result was the then-popular miniseries "Deathmate". As WildStorm expanded, Lee published creator-owned comics by several notable comics professionals.
From 1996 to 1997, Lee was involved with a new Marvel Comics project, called "Heroes Reborn". The concept involved the relaunch of previously defunct Marvel series, featuring classic characters with new origin stories and updated settings. Lee took over the Fantastic Four title as both writer and illustrator, and also served as the new writer for Iron Man/Tony Stark. Meanwhile, Rob Liefeld took over the titles of Captain America and the Avengers.
Lee's two titles proved commercially successful, while Liefeld's titles were controversial. Liefeld left the "Heroes Reborn" project earlier than expected, and Marvel assigned both Captain America and the Avengers to Lee's studio. The project concluded in 1997, though Marvel was initially willing to continue the Heroes Reborn lineup indefinitely. Marvel wanted Lee to personally draw at least one of the ongoing titles, but Lee was unwilling to make a long-term commitment to Marvel.
Following "Heroes Reborn" conclusion, Lee negotiated another deal with Marvel. He was scheduled to serve as a new editor for Marvel, handling relaunched versions of the Defenders, Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange, and Nick Fury. All three titles were scheduled for debuts in December 1997, but this agreement was canceled prematurely.
Returning to WildStorm, Lee published a number of new titles. The most successful among them were "The Authority" and "Planetary". The Authority featured the eponymous superhero team, which operated beyond the constrains of laws and politics. The series was initially handled by the creative team of Warren Ellis (1968-) and Bryan Hitch (1970-). "Planetary" featured alternate versions of characters from many companies and genres, interacting with each other in a shared reality. It was handled by the creative team of Warren Ellis and John Cassaday (1971-).
In this period WildStorm also launched the imprint "America's Best Comics" (ABC) under the control of veteran writer Alan Moore (1953-). The imprint published then-popular series, such as "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", "Promethea", "Tom Strong", "Tomorrow Stories", and "Top 10".
While Lee was prolific as a publisher in the late 1990s, his output as a writer and artist was rather limited. His most notable work in this period was the 12-issue series "Divine Right: The Adventures of Max Faraday" (1997-1999), It featured Lee's new character, novice computer scientist Max Faraday. The concept of the series was that Faraday accidentally downloaded access codes to the Creation Wheel, a millennia-old device that can grant its users with the power of God. He then found himself targeted by people wanting this power for themselves.
In 1998, Lee sold WildStorm to DC Comics. He continued to run the company as an imprint of DC Comics. Meanwhile, he returned to work as an artist. In the early 2000s his most notable work was the 12-issue story arc "Batman: Hush" (October 2002-September 2003). The story arc introduced new super-villain Hush/Thomas Elliot, involved several Batman villains in an elaborate scheme, and explored the romantic relationship of Batman/Bruce Wayne and Catwoman/Selina Kyle. The story arc received critical acclaim.
In 2003, Lee designed the super-villain Sin Tzu, introduced in the beat 'em up video game "Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu", The video game was a spin-off the animated television series "The New Batman Adventures" (1997-1999). It was the last video game based on the DC Animated Universe. Sin Tzu was depicted as an Asian warlord and master strategist. The character was later adapted into the mainstream Batman comics.
Lee's next high-profile comics work was the 12-issue story arc "For Tomorrow" (June 2004-May 2005), featuring Superman. In this story, Superman is puzzled by the mysterious disappearance of 1 million people. Among the victims was his wife Lois Lane, and Superman was struggling with feelings of personal loss and guilt over her fate. The story arc also featured a guest appearance by Wonder Woman/Diana of Themyscira, and the return of the prominent super-villain General Zod. Lee's artwork in this story arc was highly praised, though the script by Brian Azzarello was met with lukewarm reviews.
Lee next worked on the series "All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder", which lasted for 10 issues (September 2005-August 2008). The series was a new origin story for Robin/Dick Grayson, and also covered the early career of Batman/Bruce Wayne. The first issue of the series was the highest-selling comic book of 2005, and the series in general enjoyed high sales. Lee's artwork was among the series' main selling points, though the script by Frank Miller was poorly received. The series was plagued by schedule delays, as Lee was concurrently involved with designing content for the video game with designing content for the video game "DC Universe Online",
In 2006, Lee was involved with a relaunch of the "Wildcats" series. He provided the artwork for the first issue of "Wildcats" volume 4, which turned out to be the only one published. The series' intended writer Grant Morrison (1960-) was preoccupied with other projects, and never scripted more than one issue. The series was canceled after that.
In February 2010, Lee was appointed as the new co-publisher of DC Comics, sharing duties with Dan DiDio (1959-). In September 2010, the WildStorm imprint was shut down. Several of its characters were later reused by mainstream DC Comics publication.
Lee's first landmark publication as a publisher was "The New 52" event of 2011. DC Comics canceled all of its superhero titles, and then launched 52 new series with #1 issues. The event wiped out the continuity of the DC Universe, and introduced a new continuity. Lee was named as one of the main architects of the event, sharing duties with writer Geoff Johns (1973-).
In 2013, Lee redesigned the Mortal Kombat ninja character Scorpion/Hanzo Hasashi. His version of the character was used in the video game "Injustice: Gods Among Us". Also in 2013, Lee became a member of the Advisory Board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit organization chartered to protect the First Amendment rights of the comics community.
In 2014, the company General Mills commissioned DC Comics to redesign its monster-themed cereals. Lee personally redesigned the character Boo Berry. He commented in an interview that he found "the task of designing a cartoon character" to be more difficult than drawing his typical detailed designs for comics.
Lee was one of the main artists for the miniseries "Batman: Europa", which lasted 4 issues (January-April, 2016). The series featured an adventure of Batman and the Joker entirely set in Europe, and was inspired by Lee's visit of Italy. It is one of the few stories to feature Batman and the Joker as allied to each other, as they team-up against a mysterious new enemy. Their common foe was eventually revealed to be Bane, who wanted to teach them a lesson, about how dependent on each other they were in his view.
Also in 2016, Lee was the main artist for the one-shot publication "Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad April Fool's Special". Lee was the main artist of the ongoing series "Suicide Squad" vol. 5 from issue #1 to issue #8 (October 2016 to February 2017). His version of the team prominently featured the character Harley Quinn/Harleen Quinzel.
In June 2018, Geoff Johns stepped down from his position as Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of DC Comics. Lee was named as Johns' replacement in the role, while continuing to serve as a co-publisher. In February 2020, Dan DiDio resigned from his position as co-publisher. Lee became the sole publisher for DC Comics.
By 2021, Lee was 56-years-old. He has been active as a professional comics artist for 34 years. He continues to be a popular comics creator, and does not seem to be considering retirement yet.- Writer
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Ed Brubaker was born on 17 November 1966 in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Westworld (2016) and Too Old to Die Young (2019). He is married to Melanie Tomlin.- Writer
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Brian Michael Bendis was born on 18 August 1967 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Powers (2015), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). He is married to Alisa Bendis. They have four children.- Animation Department
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Bruce Timm is an American animator, writer, voice actor and director. He is known for creating Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League and various installments of the DC Animated Universe. He co-created several DC characters including Harley Quinn and Livewire. He also worked on various DC animated films including Batman and Harley Quinn and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight.- Director
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Tensai Okamura was born on 13 December 1961 in Fukushima, Japan. Tensai is a director and writer, known for Ghost in the Shell (1995), Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001) and Darker Than Black (2007).- Director
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Steve McQueen was born on 9 October 1969 in London, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for 12 Years a Slave (2013), Shame (2011) and Hunger (2008). He is married to Bianca Stigter. They have two children.- Director
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Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. He attended school in Morehouse College in Atlanta and developed his film making skills at Clark Atlanta University. After graduating from Morehouse, Lee attended the Tisch School of Arts graduate film program. He made a controversial short, The Answer (1980), a reworking of D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), a ten-minute film. Lee went on to produce a 45-minute film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983) which won a student Academy Award. In 1986, Spike Lee made the film, She's Gotta Have It (1986), a comedy about sexual relationships. The movie was made for $175,000, and earned $7 million at the box office, which launched his career and allowed him to found his own production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. His next movie was School Daze (1988), which was set at a historically black school, focused mostly on the conflict between the school and the Fraternities, of which he was a strong critic, portraying them as materialistic, irresponsible, and uncaring. With his School Daze (1988) profits, Lee went on to make his landmark film, Do the Right Thing (1989), a movie based specifically his own neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. The movie portrayed the racial tensions that emerge in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood on one very hot day. The movie garnered Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay, for Danny Aiello for supporting actor, and sparked a debate on racial relations. Lee went on to produce and direct the jazz biopic Mo' Better Blues (1990), the first of many Spike Lee films to feature Denzel Washington, including the biography of Malcolm X (1992), in which Washington portrayed the civil rights leader. The movie was a success, and garnered an Oscar nomination for Washington. The pair would work together again on He Got Game (1998), an excursion into the collegiate world showing the darker side of college athletic recruiting, as well as the 2006 film Inside Man (2006). Spike Lee's role as a documentarian has expanded over the years, highlighted by his participation in Lumière and Company (1995), the Oscar-nominated 4 Little Girls (1997), to his Peabody Award-winning biographical adaptation of Black Panther leader in A Huey P. Newton Story (2001), through his 2005 Emmy Award-winning examination of post-Katrina New Orleans in When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) and its follow-up five years later If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise (2010). Through his production company 40 Acres and A Mule Filmworks, Lee continues to create and direct both independent films and projects for major studios, as well as working on story development, creating an internship program for aspiring filmmakers, releasing music, and community outreach and support. He is married to Tonya Lewis Lee, and they have two sons, Satchel and Jackson.- Writer
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David S. Goyer was born on 22 December 1965 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Dark City (1998), The Dark Knight (2008) and Flashforward (2009). He is married to Marina Black. They have two children. He was previously married to Jessika Borsiczky.- Writer
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Gen Urobuchi was born on 20 December 1972 in Tokyo, Japan. Gen is a writer, known for Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011), Kamen Rider Gaim (2013) and Aldnoah.Zero (2014).- Producer
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Described by film producer Michael Deeley as "the very best eye in the business", director Ridley Scott was born on November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. His father was an officer in the Royal Engineers and the family followed him as his career posted him throughout the United Kingdom and Europe before they eventually returned to Teesside. Scott wanted to join the British Army (his elder brother Frank had already joined the Merchant Navy) but his father encouraged him to develop his artistic talents instead and so he went to West Hartlepool College of Art and then London's Royal College of Art where he helped found the film department.
In 1962, he joined the BBC as a trainee set designer working on several high profile series. He attended a trainee director's course while he was there and his first directing job was on an episode of the popular BBC police series Z Cars (1962), Error of Judgement (1965). More TV work followed until, frustrated by the poor financial rewards at the BBC, he went into advertising. With his younger brother, Tony Scott, he formed the advertising production company RSA (Ridley Scott Associates) in 1967 and spent the next 10 years making some of the best known and best loved TV adverts ever shown on British television, including a series of ads for Hovis bread set to the music of Dvorak's New World Symphony which are still talked about today ("'e were a great baker were our dad.")
He began working with producer David Puttnam in the 1970s developing ideas for feature films. Their first joint endeavor, The Duellists (1977) won the Jury Prize for Best First Work at Cannes in 1977 and was nominated for the Palm d'Or, more than successfully launching Scott's feature film career. The success of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) inspired Scott's interest in making science fiction and he accepted the offer to direct Dan O'Bannon's low budget science fiction horror movie Alien (1979), a critical and commercial success that firmly established his worldwide reputation as a movie director.
Blade Runner (1982) followed in 1982 to, at best, a lukewarm reception from public and critics but in the years that followed, its reputation grew - and Scott's with it - as one of the most important sci-fi movies ever made. Scott's next major project was back in the advertising world where he created another of the most talked-about advertising spots in broadcast history when his "1984"-inspired ad for the new Apple Macintosh computer was aired during the Super Bowl on January 22, 1984. Scott's movie career has seen a few flops (notably Legend (1985) and 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)), but with successes like Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000) and Black Hawk Down (2001) to offset them, his reputation remains solidly intact.
Ridley Scott was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire at the 2003 Queen's New Year Honours for his "substantial contribution to the British film industry". On July 3, 2015, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Royal College of Art in a ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship in 2018. BAFTA described him as "a visionary director, one of the great British film-makers whose work has made an indelible mark on the history of cinema. Forty years since his directorial debut, his films continue to cross the boundaries of style and genre, engaging audiences and inspiring the next generation of film talent."- Writer
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Guillermo del Toro was born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Raised by his Catholic grandmother, del Toro developed an interest in filmmaking in his early teens. Later, he learned about makeup and effects from the legendary Dick Smith (The Exorcist (1973)) and worked on making his own short films. At the age of 21, del Toro executive produced his first feature, Dona Herlinda and Her Son (1985). Del Toro spent almost 10 years as a makeup supervisor, and formed his own company, Necropia in the early 1980s. He also produced and directed Mexican television programs at this time, and taught film.
Del Toro got his first big break when Cronos (1992) won nine Ariel Awards (the Mexican equivalent of the Oscars), then went on to win the International Critics Week Prize at Cannes. Following this success, del Toro made his first Hollywood film, Mimic (1997), starring Mira Sorvino.
Del Toro had some unfortunate experiences working with a demanding Hollywood studio on Mimic (1997), and returned to Mexico to form his own production company, The Tequila Gang.
Next for del Toro, was The Devil's Backbone (2001), a Spanish Civil War ghost story. The film was hailed by critics and audiences alike, and del Toro decided to give Hollywood another try. In 2002, he directed the Wesley Snipes vampire sequel, Blade II (2002).
On a roll, Del Toro followed up Blade II (2002) with another successful comic-book inspired film, Hellboy (2004), starring one of Del Toro's favorite actors, Ron Perlman.
Del Toro is divorced, has a daughter and a son and lives in Los Angeles and Toronto.- Actress
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Maude Apatow is an American actress. She is the eldest daughter of director Judd Apatow and actress Leslie Mann, and is possibly best known for her very popular Twitter page. After minor roles in Knocked Up (2007) and Funny People (2009), as the daughter of Leslie Mann's characters, she had a slightly bigger role in the 2012 film, This Is 40 (2012), again as Leslie Mann's character's daughter.- Producer
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Ryan Kyle Coogler is an African-American filmmaker and producer who is from Oakland, California. He is known for directing the Black Panther film series, Creed, a Rocky spin-off and Fruitvale Station. He frequently casts Michael B. Jordan in his works. He produced the Creed sequels, Judas and the Black Messiah and Space Jam: A New Legacy. He is married to Zinzi since 2016.- Producer
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Taika Waititi, also known as Taika Cohen, hails from the Raukokore region of the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand, and is the son of Robin (Cohen), a teacher, and Taika Waititi, an artist and farmer. His father is Maori (Te-Whanau-a-Apanui), and his mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish, Irish, Scottish, and English descent. Taika has been involved in the film industry for several years, initially as an actor, and now focusing on writing and directing.
Two Cars, One Night is Taika's first professional film-making effort and since its completion in 2003 he has finished another short "Tama Tu" about a group of Maori Soldiers in Italy during World War 2. As a performer and comedian, Taika has been involved in some of the most innovative and successful original productions seen in New Zealand. He regularly does stand-up gigs in and around the country and in 2004 launched his solo production, "Taika's Incredible Show". In 2005 he staged the sequel, "Taika's Incrediblerer Show". As an actor, Taika has been critically acclaimed for both his Comedic and Dramatic abilities. In 2000 he was nominated for Best Actor at the Nokia Film Awards for his role in the Sarkies Brother's film "Scarfies".
Taika is also an experienced painter and photographer, having exhibited both mediums in Wellington and Berlin, and a fashion designer. He attended the Sundance Writers Lab with "Choice", a feature loosely based on "Two Cars, One Night".
Taika became a blockbuster director with his film Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and received critical acclaim, and a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, for his film Jojo Rabbit (2019).- Writer
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Man of Action Entertainment, the creative studio and writers' collective started in 2000, created the megahit "Ben 10," a three billion dollar boys' action empire that has been called the most successful superhero launch of the past decade. Man of Action Entertainment is comprised of creators and acclaimed comic book writers Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle, having collectively worked on the largest franchise characters in comics from "Superman" to "X-Men" before refocusing on creating worlds and characters for their own original work published through their Man of Action imprint at Image Comics. They also created cult favorite series "Generator Rex" for Cartoon Network, and are co-executive producers and writers for "Marvel's Avengers Assemble" and served as executive producers/writers for "Ultimate Spider-Man" on Disney XD. Beyond the world of animation, Man of Action has created wildly successful video games, toy lines, comic books, stage productions, as well as forthcoming feature films and live action television shows, some of which are based on their own original comic book series and graphic novels. "Big Hero 6," Disney's first animated feature based on a Marvel property, features the team and characters created by Man of Action. Upcoming projects based upon other Man of Action creations include "The Great Unknown," "KAFKA," "Officer Downe," "I Kill Giants" and "The Crusades."- Writer
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Chris Claremont was born on 25 November 1950 in Ealing, London, England, UK. He is a writer and actor, known for X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019).