Biography of Christopher Nolan

Christopher Edward Nolan was born in London, England, on July 30th, 1970, and is not only one of the most critically acclaimed filmmakers of his generation, but also one of the highest-grossing directors of all time. Since his directorial debut with the British neo-crime drama Following in 1998, Nolan's 10 films have collectively grossed over $4.7 billion worldwide and garnered a total of 26 Oscar nominations, including 7 wins.

Nolan's passion for filmmaking began at age 7 when he borrowed his father's Super 8 camera to shoot rudimentary films with his toy action figures. He has stated in interviews that he knew he wanted to make films professionally from the time he was 11 years old. He was heavily influenced by Star Wars, on which he based a stop-motion homage called Space Wars in 1978, even using real NASA footage of rocket launches provided by his uncle, who helped build guidance systems for the Apollo rockets. He would later take inspiration from these early interactions with his uncle when tackling the immense complexity of his full-length space film Interstellar.

Nolan was educated first at Haileybury and Imperial Service College in Hertfordshire, and later at University College London, which he chose primarily for its filmmaking resources and at which he was president of the Union's Film Society. He made three independent films during his time at UCL, one of which, called Larceny (1995), was screened at the Cambridge Film Festival in 1996 and is still considered one of the best shorts ever made at the university. During this time, Nolan also met and began dating fellow student Emma Thomas, herself now a successful film producer. The couple married in 1997, and in 2001 founded the production company Syncopy Inc., which they now co-run and under which they have released many of Nolan's most successful films.

Nolan's most recent movie, Dunkirk (2017), was considered by many to be his most daring and ambitious production yet. It garnered nearly universal praise from critics and audiences for its suspenseful narrative, strong screenplay and direction, dramatic musical score, and cinematography. With a worldwide intake of $525 million, it is now the highest-grossing World War II film of all time, and is considered by many to be Nolan's best work. His other films include Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, and Interstellar.

Nolan currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife and four children. While he keeps his personal life very private, journalists who have interviewed him describe him as straight-forward and pleasant, "the picture of Zen-like calm, speaking softly and deliberately about his work."


Study Guides on Works by Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight was released in 2008 to critical and financial acclaim, grossing over a billion dollars at the box office. Written by Christopher and his brother Jonathan, the film tells the story of the corruption of Gotham...

Widely considered one of the greatest war films of all time, Dunkirk is a 2017 movie directed, co-produced, and written by Christopher Nolan. Nolan's tenth film, Dunkirk takes a highly specific perspective on a definitive moment in British...

Inception is a 2010 action-thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Nolan developed the film over a 10-year period, initially pitching the script to Warner Bros. in 2001 as a horror vehicle. The studio passed and...

In 2014, Christopher Nolan's epic science-fiction odyssey Interstellar exploded into theaters with the kind of gravitas associated with only a handful of its genre predecessors. It was Nolan's first movie after finishing direction on the Dark...

Memento is a psychological thriller directed by Christopher Nolan, written by his brother, Jonathan Nolan, and produced by Suzanne and Jennifer Todd. It was released on September 5, 2000.

Leonard Shelby, the protagonist, is in search of the person...

The Prestige is one of Christopher Nolan’s famed cinematography works, staring notable actors including Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, as well as renowned musician David Bowie. The thriller was released on October 17, 2006 and distributed by...