John Carpenter Biography

Fast Facts

• At age 8, began shooting action-oriented short films using his father's 8mm camera
• Played in a band called the Coupe de Villes during college
• While attending USC, helped produce a short, The Resurrection of Broncho Billy, which won an Oscar in 1970
• Made his feature-film directing debut with the 1974 sci-fi/comedy Dark Star, which was an expanded version of his Master's thesis project
• His commercial breakthrough was the 1978 horror classic Halloween, which he wrote, directed and scored
• The film was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 2006
• Was inducted into Western Kentucky University's Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 1999, and received an honorary doctorate from the university in 2007
• Was the subject of the 2004 documentary John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies
• Told the NY Daily News that he took a self-imposed, nearly 10-year break from Hollywood between shooting Ghost of Mars (2001) and The Ward (2010) because he needed to recharge and regain his love for making movies
• A fan of video games, he contributed input to the game F
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• 3, released in 2011