Director Sam Raimi was born October 23, 1959, in Franklin, Mich., and attended Michigan State University. His ultra-cheap horror flick The Evil Dead (1983) became a cult sensation and launched his directing, producing and writing career.

Two successful Evil Dead sequels led to 1990's comics-inspired Darkman, a film that once again displayed his skill at feverish camerawork and tongue-in-cheek gore. He also began producing and writing for other directors, including co-writing the screenplay for the Coen brothers' The Hudsucker Proxy (1993).

By the late '90s, Raimi was producing the popular "Hercules" and "Xena" TV series and graduated from cultish films with the successful thriller A Simple Plan. For Love of the Game and The Gift followed, helping Raimi to secure the coveted director position for Spider-Man (2002). That film's enormous success led to an even bigger hit with Spider-Man 2 (2004).