Person Biography:
Anderson was born in 1970, and was one of the first of the "video store" generation of filmmakers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. He grew up in the suburban San Fernando Valley of greater Los Angeles, which would later influence his artistic self, especially since three of his four theatrical features are set in the Valley.
Anderson got into filmmaking at a young age and made his most significant amateur film, "The Dirk Diggler Story" (1988),a mock-documentary about a once-great pornography star named Dirk Diggler. He also worked as a production assistant on numerous commercials and music videos before making his first feature, "Sydney" (later known as "Hard Eight" (1996)),which was developed and financed through The Sundance Lab.
Anderson's artistic DNA comes from his father, who hosted a late-night horror show in Cleveland, and knew a number of oddball celebrities. He was also shaped by his experiences growing up in the Valley, where he was close to Hollywood but not quite there, and where wannabe and burn-out populations inhabited the area.
Anderson's breakthrough film, "Boogie Nights" (1997),was a remake of "The Dirk Diggler Story", but he threw away the satirical approach and instead painted a broad canvas about a makeshift family of pornographers. The film was often joyous in its look at the 1970s, but also showed the dark side, including a murder and suicide, and the lives of the characters deteriorating and recovering.
Anderson continued to work with a stock company of top-notch actors, including Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Melora Walters, William H. Macy, and Luis Guzmán. His subsequent films included "Magnolia" (1999),a massive mosaic that could dwarf Altman's "Nashville" (1975) in its number of characters, and "Punch-Drunk Love" (2002),for which he was awarded a "Best Director" award at Cannes.
