RATINGS: Cast & Crew

DOB: August 28, 1962

Background: Fincher was born in Colorado and raised in San Anselmo, California, where at the age of eight he began making films with an 8mm camera. Instead of attending film school, he took hands-on jobs for Korty Films and was hired by Industrial Light & Magic in 1983, where he worked on "Return of the Jedi" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" before joining Propoganda Films, for which he directed a number of commercials and music videos, including Madonna's "Express Yourself" and "Vogue" and George Michael's "Freedom '90."

Filmography: His featured directing debut was "Alien 3" (1992), during which he clashed with the studio, 20th Century Fox. He met with studio challenges again when he directed his breakthrough film, the 1995 thriller "Seven," but star Brad Pitt helped him retain creative control. He next directed "The Game" (1997) with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn before reuniting with Pitt for the cult hit "Fight Club" (1999). Afterwards, he directed Jodie Foster in the home-invasion thriller "Panic Room" (2002), but it took five years until the release of his next film, "Zodiac," a fact-based drama about San Francisco's unsolved Zodiac Killer case. His next two films both earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (2008) and "The Social Network" (2010), the latter of which earned rave reviews and swept the critics' awards. This year he adapts Stieg Larsson's wildly popular mystery "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," the novel's second adaptation in three years.

Academy Awards:

Best Director nominations:
- "The Social Network" (2011); lost to Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech")
- "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (2009); lost to Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire")

Cannes Film Festival: Nomination - Palme d'Or ("Zodiac," 2007)

DGA Awards: Win - Best Directorial Achievement in Commercials (2004). Nominations - Best Director ("The Social Network," 2011; "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," 2009); Best Directorial Achievement in Commercials (2009)

Golden Globe Awards: Win - Best Director ("The Social Network," 2011). Nomination - Best Director ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," 2009)

National Society of Film Critics: Win - Best Director ("The Social Network," 2011)