Christopher Nolan biography

Synopsis

Early Years and Training

Born on July 30, 1970 in London, England, Christopher Nolan started creating films as a child, making his first short at the age of 7. Nolan traveled between Chicago and London while growing up—his mother was from America and his father was from Britain—and eventually went on to attend University College London, where he studied English literature and joined the school's film society. He created shorts like Tarantula, Larceny and Doodlebug before releasing longer-form work.

Directing Career

Nolan's major film debut, Following, was a black-and-white, small-budget work about a lonely writer who's obsessed with following strangers and then partners with a burglar. The film's unconventional, non-linear narrative scheme helped garner interest in Nolan's work and propelled him to his next film, Memento. The noir-ish indie feature starred Guy Pearce as an amnesiac man who relies on Polaroids and copious note-taking while seeking vengeance. Nolan adapted the work from a story written by his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the film received two Oscar nominations for its editing and screenplay.

Nolan continued presenting psychological thrillers with the remake Insomnia, starring Al Pacino as a police officer in Alaska handling a murder investigation while contending with a lingering guilt. The director's career then traveled into the stratosphere, when he agreed to helm the re-launch of the comic book hero Batman with the 2005 film Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale as the titular character. The movie went on to earn more than $372 million worldwide. Nolan next released 2006's The Prestige, a well-received story about dueling magicians starring Bale, Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson.

In July, 2008, Nolan's Batman sequel, The Dark Knight, opened and set the record as having the highest weekend gross in the United States, at $158 million; Knight went on to become one of the top five highest-grossing films in America. While the production also received an avalanche of acclaim, including several Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, sadness marked the proceedings. Heath Ledger, who starred as the villain the Joker, died from an accidental prescription drug overdose before the film was released. Ledger won a Golden Globe and Oscar posthumously for his work, and Nolan accepted the Globe award on Ledger's behalf.

Two summers later, Nolan returned to the box office with Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the leader of a group of dream-traveling mercenaries.