Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, and actor. He has received many industry awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA and the Palme d’Or and has been nominated for an Emmy and Grammy.

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tarantino was an avid film fan. His career began in the late 1980s, when he wrote and directed My Best Friend’s Birthday. Its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence. His films include Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003, 2004), Death Proof (2007), and Inglourious Basterds (2009).

His movies are generally characterized by stylistic influences from grindhouse, kung fu, and spaghetti western films.