- Born
- Birth nameQuentin Jerome Tarantino
- Nicknames
- QT
- Q
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of 1992, first-time writer-director Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992) appeared at the Sundance Film Festival. The film garnered critical acclaim and the director became a legend immediately. Two years later, he followed up Dogs success with Pulp Fiction (1994) which premiered at the Cannes film festival, winning the coveted Palme D'Or Award. At the 1995 Academy Awards, it was nominated for the best picture, best director and best original screenplay. Tarantino and writing partner Roger Avary came away with the award only for best original screenplay. In 1995, Tarantino directed one fourth of the anthology Four Rooms (1995) with friends and fellow auteurs Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Allison Anders. The film opened December 25 in the United States to very weak reviews. Tarantino's next film was From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), a vampire/crime story which he wrote and co-starred with George Clooney. The film did fairly well theatrically.
Since then, Tarantino has helmed several critically and financially successful films, including Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2015).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Kale Whorton <nikko11@mind.net>
- SpouseDaniella Pick(November 28, 2018 - present) (2 children)
- ChildrenAdriana TarantinoLeo Tarantino
- Parents
- RelativesDominic James Tarantino(Grandparent)Elizabeth Jean Salvaggio(Grandparent)Edwin William McHugh(Grandparent)Betty June Woody (McHugh)(Grandparent)
- Lead characters usually drive General Motors vehicles, particularly Chevrolet and Cadillac, such as Jules' 1974 Nova and Vincent's 1960s Malibu.
- Briefcases and suitcases play an important role in Pulp Fiction (1994), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Jackie Brown (1997), True Romance (1993) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004).
- Makes references to cult movies and television
- Frequently works with Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Kurt Russell, Michael Madsen, Uma Thurman, Michael Bowen, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Parks and Christoph Waltz.
- His films usually have a shot from inside an automobile trunk
- Hates product placement hence, the use of the fictional cigarette Red Apple and now-defunct cereal Fruit Brute in his films.
- He delayed production of Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) for several months when Uma Thurman became pregnant. He refused to recast her, as he had written the role specifically for her, based on an idea the two conceived on the set of Pulp Fiction (1994).
- Has said that the three films that have most influenced him as a director are: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) (which he says "is obvious"), Mario Bava's Black Sabbath (1963) (because that taught him the importance of having a distinct directorial voice), and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) (because that taught him about mixing genres).
- Owns the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, the theater where he often saw double features as a child. He helped the prior owner to keep the theater afloat and stay open with a $5000/mo subsidy. Subsequently, he bought the building in December 2007 to save the revival theater from being redeveloped into a Supercuts. In October 2014, he assumed full ownership and programs the theater's slate personally with kid's matinées, double features nightly, midnight showings on the weekends, vintage shorts/cartoons and a commitment to always show in 35mm celluloid film.
- Cites his influences as Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Sergio Leone, Jean-Luc Godard and Howard Hawks.
- [at the MTV Movie Awards 1994 as he won Best Picture for Pulp Fiction (1994)] Pop quiz, hotshot: you go to the awards ceremonies all year long; you keep losing to Forrest Gump (1994)! It's really annoying the hell out of you - what do you do? You go to the MTV Awards!
- [on "rival" director Guy Ritchie marrying Madonna] I guess I'll have to marry Elvis Presley to get even.
- If I've made it a little easier for artists to work in violence, great! I've accomplished something.
- When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, "No, I went to films".
- [on using surfing music, when hating the surfing culture] It's like surf music, I've always like loved that but, for me, I don't know what surf music has to do with surf boards. To me, it just sounds like rock and roll, even Morricone music. It sounds like rock and roll Spaghetti Western music, so that's how I kind of laid it in.
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