Influential writer-director Quentin Tarantino was born on March 27, 1963, in Knoxville, Tenn., but moved to Los Angeles with his mother when he was two. After dropping out of high school, he discovered his passion for film while working at a video store in California.

While there, he wrote (with frequent collaborator Roger Avery) his first feature film, Reservoir Dogs, which generated much critical acclaim after its 1991 premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Tarantino went on to direct Pulp Fiction (1994), which won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

A short film for the Four Rooms anthology followed, along with Jackie Brown and screenplays for Natural Born Killers, True Romance and From Dusk Till Dawn. After devoting several years to writing and acting, Tarantino made his mark again in 2003 with the two-volume Kill Bill epic.