Christopher Nolan is one of the most talented and sort after filmmakers currently working in Hollywood directors who has enjoyed huge box office success in the last few years.
It's hard then to believe that he has only made only seven feature films in his career, a career that he was shoot to prominence back in 1998.
He's back on the big screen this week with his new sci-fi epics Inception, a movie that has everyone talking, as he returns to the director's chair for the first time in two years.
Nolan made a string of short movies; including Taranella and Image Union, which he was studying English literature at University College London.
His first feature length movie came in the mid nineties when he Following, which starred Jeremy Theobald and Alex Haw, which centred on a young man who followed strangers around the streets of London.
But it was to be his second movie Memento in 2000 that really caused a stir in the movie world as Guy Pearce took on his now famous role of Leonard Shelby.
A robber attacks a married couple, killing the woman and leaving the man for dead. As he convalesces, the man struggles to overcome amnesia through the chaos of memory loss induced by his injuries.
Finding himself within rag-tag moments of his past, he attempts to remember the vital details and solve the mystery behind his wife's murder.
The movie began to capture people's attention as it did the rounds on the festival circuit and while it struggled to find a distributor the movie was praised and championed by Steven Soderburgh.
Word of mouth seemed to do the trick and grossed just under $40 million, not bad for a movie made for $4.5 million, and it was a huge hit with the critics.
Nolan went on to be nominated for Best Director at the Directors Guild of America Award before collected the trophy at the Independent Spirit Awards. Ten years on and the movie is now a cult hit and one of Nolan's most famous works.
Two years later and then a remake, in the form of Insomnia, was on the cards as Nolan teamed up with Al Pacino and Robin Williams for an American version of Erik Skjoldbjærg's 1997 movie of the same name.
It was another critical hit for the director but he didn't return to the big screen until 2005.
And 2005 brought a change of genre for Nolan as he took on the blockbuster by bringing Batman back to the big screen. A re-boot of the franchise saw Christian Bale take over the lead role of Bruce Wayne as Nolan took his story right back to the beginning.
Batman Begins was both critically and commercially successful as it took $372 million at the global box office, and the franchise was back on it's feet and in good hands.
He stayed with Christian Bale and Michael for his next project The Prestige in 2006 as Christopher Priest's 1995 novel of the same name was adapted for the big screen.
And while The Prestige did do well everyone was waited for a Batman Begins sequel, with Nolan obliging in 2008 with The Dark Knight.
The release of the movie was highly anticipated with news that the Joker was returning to the big screen, in the unexpected form of Heath Ledger.
Excitement had already begun to grow around the movie at the beginning of 2008 but this was further heightened by the unexpected death of Ledger in January 2008.
The movie was critically acclaimed and a box office smash as it broke through the $1 billion barrier and Ledger picked up a posthumous Oscar for his outstanding performance.
it has been two years since a Christopher Nolan movie graced the big screen but all that is set to change this week as highly anticipated Inception finally reaches cinema screens.
The director has brought together an impressive cast of Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Ellen Page, Michael Caine and Tom Hardy.
Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable.
Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved.
Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible: inception.
Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime.
But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming.
And while questions were raised as to whether Nolan would return to the Batman franchise everyone's fears can be put to rest as work has already begun on the script with Nolan getting ready to direct.
He is also set to produce the new Superman movie Superman: Man of Steel.
Inception is out now.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Christopher Nolan Inception