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Tim Burton - a short biography
Tim Burton is one of the best known directors in American cinema today. He has directed and produced some of the most original films in the world.
How it all started !
Tim Burton was born on August 25, 1958 in Burbank, California. His favourite activities were drawing cartoons, watching old movies and dreaming. By the time he was sixteen, he had left home. In 1976 he won a scholarship at the California Institute for the Arts and in 1979, though he was only twenty-one, he started working as an animator for the Disney Studios.
Piling up hits !
When Disney refused his short film, Frankenweenie, which was considered too scary for children, Burton left the studios. Five years later, he reached world fame with big box-office hits such as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985) and Beetlejuice (1988) which is a strange gothic comedy. However, it was Batman, an enormous hit which established Burton as one of the rising stars in the world of cinema. Burton went on piling hits such as this first film with his friend Johnny Depp Edward Scissorshands (1990), and Batman returns (1992). In 2001 he meets the actress Helena Bonham Carter, who is now his partner in life. He also directed successful and very original films like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride (2005), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Tim Burton won a Golden Globe for Best Picture in 2007 for Sweeney Todd.
More than a director
Tim Burton is not just a director. He has also produced such varied box-office successes as The Nightmare before Christmas (1993) and Batman Forever (1995). And besides his work as a director and producer, he also wrote a book with a very strange title The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and other stories. He has a son called Billy Ray and a daughter called Nell.
With all of this to Burton's credit, it's no wonder that he is regarded as one of the greatest figures in entertainment. He is one of the wealthiest film makers in the world. Thanks to such creative films, he has a very devoted and enthusiastic fan club.
"One person's craziness is another person's reality." -Tim Burton