A pioneering writer-director with an unflinching affinity for dark and disturbing subject matter, Darren Aronofsky was born Feb. 12, 1969, in Brooklyn, N.Y. After studying filmmaking at Harvard University, he earned his master's degree in directing from the American Film Institute.

Aronofsky's first movie, Pi (1998), garnered critical acclaim for its arresting portrayal of a mathematician gone mad. But his star-studded follow-up, Requiem for a Dream (2000) -- a project he developed at the Sundance Lab -- proved even more jarring, exploring the moral and psychological decay of desperately addicted characters.

Aronofsky cemented his reputation for spinning gold from gritty material with The Wrestler (2008), which won leading man Mickey Rourke a Golden Globe, and later steered Natalie Portman into new territory with the ballet thriller Black Swan (2010). The film earned multiple Oscar nominations, including a Best Director nod for Aronofsky.