Influential writer-director Quentin Tarantino was born March 27, 1963, in Knoxville, Tenn., but moved to Los Angeles with his mother when he was 2. After dropping out of high school, he discovered his passion for movies while working at a video store in California.

While there, Tarantino co-wrote his first feature, Reservoir Dogs, which generated critical acclaim after its 1992 premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. He went on to helm Pulp Fiction (1994), which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

A short film for the Four Rooms anthology followed, along with Jackie Brown (1997) and screenplays for Natural Born Killers (1994) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). Tarantino made his directorial mark again in 2003 with the two-volume Kill Bill saga. The epic Inglourious Basterds (2009) brought Golden Globe and Oscar nods for his direction and his script.