Sam Raimi

Filmmaker Sam Raimi is most famous for his early movies in The Evil Dead series and for the blockbuster Spider-Man movies. Raimi is known as a movie enthusiast who began making his own movies before he was a teenager. In 1978 he and some friends, including actor Bruce Campbell, made Within the Woods, a short horror film they used to raise money to make a feature. For a few hundred thousand dollars, they made The Evil Dead, an over-the-top horror movie that got raves at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival and has since become a cult favorite. Raimi's distinctive visual style and the success of The Evil Dead 2 (1987) led to his first big studio movie, the 1990 thriller Darkman (1990, starring Liam Neeson). Since then he has become one of Hollywood's most successful directors, thanks to the box office success of Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004, both with Tobey Maguire). He has also directed Army of Darkness (1993) and The Quick and the Dead (1995, starring Sharon Stone), as well as more "serious" films, including A Simple Plan (1998, starring Billy Bob Thornton) and The Gift (2000, starring Cate Blanchett). As a producer, Raimi had big hits on television with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995-99, with Kevin Sorbo) and Xena: The Warrior Princess (1995-2001, starring Lucy Lawless).

Extra credit: Raimi has made many appearances on screen over the years, including Miller's Crossing (1990) and The Flintstones (1994)... He frequently casts his brother, Ted Raimi, and his childhood friend, Bruce Campbell in his movies... Raimi's 1973 Oldsmobile Delta Royale makes an appearance in almost all of his movies.