Few film directors have racked up as many superlatives as Quentin Tarantino.
And we're not just talking about awards — although he has won two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, two BAFTA Awards and the Palme d'Or, and has been nominated for an Emmy and a Grammy.
In 2005, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Filmmaker and historian Peter Bogdanovich has called him "the single most influential director of his generation."
Tarantino has done this as a Hollywood minimalist. In a career that’s spanned close to 30 years, he has only directed eight feature-length films, a pace of one film every three or four years. His movies are marked with violence, dark comedy, nonlinear storylines and killer soundtracks. And, more often than not, Samuel L. Jackson, who has appeared in six of Tarantino's films.
Tarantino turned 55 in March and has said he plans to retire at 60, meaning that he has one or maybe two films left to direct before he focuses on other writing projects. One of those films, his first based on true events, is already in production.