A Mexican-American writer-director known for his fast-paced, independent features, Robert Rodriguez was born in San Antonio, Texas, on June 20, 1968, and honed his craft directing his large family of amateur "actors" in homemade movies shot with a Super 8 camera.

He first caught the attention of Hollywood execs with El Mariachi (1992), which cost a mere $7,000 to film, and delivered again with Desperado (1995) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) before revisiting his low-budget roots with the El Mariachi sequel, Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003).

In the new millennium, Rodriguez has also ventured into mainstream family fare with the Spy Kids trilogy (2001, 2002 and 2003) and reteamed with fellow director Quentin Tarantino (who had co-starred in From Dusk Till Dawn) for the stylized crime noir Sin City (2005) and the compilation horror film Grindhouse (2007).