Nine movies into his prolific career, the history of cinema has been embedded with the style and daring stories of Quentin Tarantino. Unpredictable, extensively violent, and brilliantly sinister plots. Powerful dialogues, music that defies all expectations, fantastic casts, and a homage to all types of genres.
That’s what you can expect from a movie directed by the famous Quentin Tarantino. But who is he, and what sets him apart from other directors? Here’s a look at everything you ever wanted to know about this amazing creative director.
Who is Quentin Tarantino ?
Quentin Tarantino, born Quentin Jerome Tarantino, is an American screenwriter and director. He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 27, 1963, to Connie McHugh of Irish and Cherokee ancestry and Tony Tarantino, an aspiring Italian actor. He grew up in Los Angeles, where he eventually began his career as an independent filmmaker in 1992.
Quentin Tarantino net worth
Today, Quentin Tarantino is on the top 25 wealthiest directors globally with a net worth of $120 million. Tarantino is one of the best producers and directors in the industry, and he is best known for the movies such as ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Django Unchained’.
Education and early career
From a very early age, Tarantino had a love for movies. Tarantino was 14 when he wrote his first screenplay, Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit. He attended the Torrance Community Theater, where he took part in plays like Romeo and Juliet and Two Plus Two Makes Sex.
Tarantino went on to work as an usher at the Pussycat Theater – an adult movie theatre. Later, he took classes in acting at James Best Theatre Company – where he met several people he would later collaborate with.
While Tarantino is known as one of the best and most triumphant filmmakers, success didn’t get served up on a platter to him. Through the 80s, he worked as an aerospace recruiter for several years and then as a video store archiver at Video Archives. Trying his luck at writing a screenplay in the 70s that was never published and soon abandoned.
Career in Hollywood
Tarantino’s career in Hollywood began when he was employed in 1986 as a production assistant on Maximum Potential, an exercise video by Swedish actor and martial artist Dolph Lundgren.
In 1987 Tarantino acted in an episode (Sophia’s Wedding: Part 1) of the fourth season of The Golden Girls as an Elvis impersonator. That same year, he also directed and co-wrote My Best Friend’s Birthday – a never-completed project but later became the basis for the romantic crime film, True Romance.
In the early 1990s, he was hired as a scriptwriter for Robert Kurtzman’s, From Dusk till Dawn.
Career breakthrough
Quentin Tarantino’s real breakthrough happened in early 1992 when Reservoir Dogs was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. Tarantino was the scriptwriter and director of the movie and even acted in it.
After Reservoir Dogs’ success, he received invitations to several Hollywood projects. Still, he preferred to work on the script for Pulp Fiction, a black comedy crime film that he also acted in. By then, there was no turning back, and one success led to another.
Quentin Tarantino Directed Movies
1992 Reservoir Dogs
A gang of diamond thieves – strangers to one another – plan a jewelry store heist that goes wrong, thanks to a traitor in their midst. The film is about events that happen before and after the theft, but not the heist itself.
Quentin Tarantino, Michael Madsen, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Chris Penn, Randy Brooks, and Kirk Baltz.
1994 Pulp Fiction
Four stories of violence and also redemption in the realm of the underworld. The movie revolves around various incidents that spin around the lives of two mob assassins, a gangster and his wife, a boxer, and a pair of small-time bandits.
John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, and Tim Roth.
1997 Jackie Brown
Flight attendant Jackie Brown is busted for smuggling drug money for arms dealer Ordell Robbie. The cops want her to help them bring down Ordell. However, Jackie decides to make off with the smuggled money.
Pam Grier, Bridget Fonda, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Michael Keaton, and Michael Bowen.
2003 Kill Bill: Volume 1
Uma Thurman stars as Beatrix Kiddo, The Bride, who vows revenge against a gang of assassins and their leader. Her ex-boss tried to kill her when she was pregnant and sent her into a coma for four years. When she regains consciousness, she sets out to get revenge.
Uma Thurman, Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, Gordon Liu, Michael Parks, and David Carradine.
2004 Kill Bill: Volume 2
“The Bride” continues to exact revenge against her former lover/boss, Bill, bouncer Budd, and one-eyed Elle.
Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Gordon Liu, Michael Parks, Vivica A. Fox, Samuel L. Jackson, Perla Haney-Jardine
2007 Death Proof
A Hollywood stuntman successfully kills women by making his murders look like car accidents. All goes well until he meets a group of young girls who are ready to fight back.
Kurt Russell, Quentin Tarantino, Vanessa Ferlito, Zoe Bell, Mary Elizabeth, Sydney Tamia Poitier, Jordon Ladd, Tracie Thoms, and more.
2009 Inglorious Basterds
A handful of Jewish soldiers on an undercover mission are all set to bring down the Nazis and end the war and a story of a woman who wants to avenge the death of her family.
Quentin Tarantino, Christoph Waltz, Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Melanie Laurent, Michael Fassbender, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, B.J. Novak, and Mike Myers.
2012 Django Unchained
A freed slave joins forces with a bounty hunter to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner.
Quentin Tarantino, Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kerry Washington.
2015 The Hateful Eight
A bounty hunter, along with his fugitive, is caught in a snowstorm. They take shelter in a lodge where they encounter various twisted events.
Kurt Russel, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tim Roth, Walton Goggins, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Channing Tatum, and Zoe Bell.
2019 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
A comedy-drama about Rick, an actor and his double, tries to recapture success in Los Angeles in the 60s.
Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, Sharon Tate, Dakota Fanning, Luke Perry, Charles Manson, Al Pacino, Emile Hirsch, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Roman Polanski, Kurt Russel, Margaret Qualley.
Quentin Tarantino Awards
- Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained.
- BAFTA Awards for Best Original Screenplay for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained.
- Critics’ Choice Movie Awards for Best Original Screenplay for Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Best Picture for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
- Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Best Screenplay for Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
- Film Independent Spirit Awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay for Pulp Fiction.
- Sitges Film Festival Best Director, Best Screenplay for Reservoir Dogs, and the Time Machine Honorary Award in 1996.
- Saturn Awards for Best Action, Adventure or Thriller Film for Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill: Volume 1 and 2, and Inglorious Basterds, and Best Writing for Django Unchained.
- Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or for Pulp Fiction.
Other works by Quentin Tarantino
During his time in Video Archives, Tarantino worked on screenplays like Natural Born Killers and True Romance.
- Tarantino wrote the original script of Natural Born Killers (1994). However, director Oliver Stone rewrote several parts. Tarantino was enraged by the rewrites and had his name taken off the film.
- In 1995, Tarantino directed and wrote the script for one of the four stories featured in Four Rooms.
- In 1996, he collaborated with Robert Rodriquez for From Dusk Till Dawn – a movie that he wrote the screen plan for and also acted in.
- After the hit movie Jackie Brown, Tarantino took a long break from filmmaking. He took a rather bold move and entered Broadway, where he starred in the revival of Wait Until Dark in 1998. He received fierce criticism for his acting, which he didn’t take very well.
- After Kill Bill, Tarantino tried his luck with television. He directed and even wrote an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2005.
- After dabbling in Television, Tarantino paired up with Robert Rodriquez once again in 2007. The two filmmakers made their version of an ode to the B-movies that were both shown as a double-feature called Grindhouse. Grindhouse was a big flop at the box office.
