Christopher Edward Nolan is a renowned English-American film director best known for directing The Dark Knight Trilogy films and Inception. Nolan is also an acclaimed screen-writer as well as a producer. Nolan is often regarded as a phenomenal story-teller and one of the highest grossing film directors in the history of the collective film Industries of the world. He is one of the most critically and commercially successful directors of all time, particularly the 21st century.
Nolan made in directorial debut in 1998 with the film ‘Following’ but rose to prominence in 2000 with the film Academy Award nominated film ‘Memento’. He followed it up with films like ‘Insomnia’ in 2002, ‘The Prestige’ in 2006, ‘The Dark Knight’ Trilogy from 2005-2012 and also received another Academy Award nomination for the 2010 film ‘Inception’. Other Oscar nominated films include Interstellar in 2014 and Dunkirk in 2017. In the two decades of his career, Nolan has received 26 Oscar nominations, winning seven times, and grossed more than US$4.3 billion worldwide in revenue.
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Early Life and Education
Nolan was born on 30 July 1970 in London, England to British advertising executive Brendan James Nolan and American flight attendant and English language teacher Christina Jensen. He was raised in both London and Evanston, Illinois and holds dual, British and American citizenship. Nolan’s siblings include an older brother, convicted criminal Matthew Francis and a younger brother named Jonathan. Nolan started making films at seven years of age and was highly influenced by the 1977 film ‘Star Wars’. By age 11, he was determined have a professional career as a filmmaker.
Nolan attended and graduated from Haileybury and Imperial Service College, in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. He later attended University College London (UCL) where he studied English Literature where he served as the president of UCL’s Union’s Film Society. Nolan chose the college particularly for its advanced film-making facilities and even made 2 short films as a student.
Career Rise
Nolan made his directorial debut with the 1998 film ‘Following’ which was funded by his friends and made with just a £3,000 budget. The film received awards at several film-festivals and Nolan was credited for his ‘Hitchcock-esque’ ness. This resulted in him receiving his career breakthrough with the 2010 film ‘Mememto’. The film became a critical and commercial success and received nominations at the Academy Awards and Golden Globes. Nolan then went on to direct ‘Insomnia’ in 2002, which once again proved to be a box-office success, earning over $113 million worldwide. The year 2005 saw the release of ‘Batman Begins’, the biggest film of Nolan’s career which became a world-wide hit, and won three BAFTA awards. In 2006, he directed the critically acclaimed film ‘The Prestige’. The success of ‘Batman Begins’ resulted in the announcement of its sequel and ‘The Dark Knight’, released in 2008 went on to become an even bigger success, earning $1,004,558,444 world-wide and won 2 Academy Awards.
The year 2010, saw the release of another blockbuster hit, the sci-fi film ‘Inception’ which became a big commercial hit, garnering $820 million worldwide and receiving 8 Academy Award nominations, winning in 4 categories. Nolan also won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award for ‘Inception’. In 2012, Nolan directed the third film in the ‘Batman series’ titled ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ which grossed over $1 Billion across the world. Nolan also produced the 2013 film ‘Man of Steel’. Nolan’s next directorial venture was the 2014 multi-starrer sci-fi film ‘Interstellar’ which received 5 Academy Award nominations and won in the category ‘Best Visual Effects’. It grossed $670 million worldwide. Nolan directed and produced ‘Dunkirk’ in 2017 and received universal acclaim.
Christopher Nolan – Wife and Children
While attending UCL, Nolan met Emma Thomas and married her in 1997 after several years of dating. Thomas serves a a producer on all of Nolan’s films. Together they have four children; sons Magnus, Rory and Oliver and a daughter named Flora. Nolan and Thomas also co-founded Syncopy Inc., their own production company. The family lives in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Trivia (‘Socially’ Averse)
Nolan actively shuns all forms of social technology including cell-phones and doesn’t have an e-mail account, claiming he has no interest in it whatsoever. He is known to prohibit the use of cell phones on his film sets.
Christopher Nolan – Net Worth
Nolan has an estimated net worth of approximately $180 Million.
