Quentin Tarantino facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Quentin Tarantino
Tarantino in 2015
Born	Quentin Jerome Tarantino (1963-03-27) March 27, 1963 (age 62) Knoxville, Tennessee, US
Occupation	Director producer screenwriter actor author
Years active	1987–present
Works	Filmography unrealized
Spouse(s)	Daniella Pick ​ (m. 2018)​
Children	2
Parent(s)	Tony Tarantino (father)
Relatives	Svika Pick (father-in-law)
Awards	Full list
Signature

Quentin Jerome Tarantino (born March 27, 1963) is a famous American film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is known for making unique and exciting movies.

Tarantino started his career as an independent filmmaker in 1992 with the crime drama Reservoir Dogs. His second film, Pulp Fiction (1994), was a huge hit. It won many awards, including the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d'Or, and an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

He continued to make popular films like Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Volume 2 (2004), which are seen as one long movie. Later, he directed Inglourious Basterds (2009), a different take on World War II. His film Django Unchained (2012) won him another Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. His most recent movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), is a comedy-drama set in the 1960s.

Tarantino's films are very popular and have a large fan base. Many people consider him one of the most important directors of his time. He has also won two BAFTAs and four Golden Globes.

Quentin Tarantino: A Film Director

Early Life and Dreams

Quentin Tarantino was born on March 27, 1963, in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father left before he was born. Quentin's mother, Connie McHugh, later moved with him to Los Angeles in 1966.

His mother married musician Curtis Zastoupil, and they moved to Torrance. Curtis often took Quentin to see movies, and his mother let him watch films for older audiences. This helped Quentin develop a strong love for movies from a young age.

When he was 14, Tarantino wrote his first screenplay, Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit. He left Narbonne High School at 15 to follow his passion for films.

Becoming a Filmmaker

First Steps in Hollywood

In the 1980s, Tarantino worked several jobs. For five years, he worked at a video store called Video Archives in Manhattan Beach, California. He was known for knowing a lot about movies and recommending them to customers. Tarantino once said, "When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, 'No, I went to films.'"

In 1987, he co-wrote and directed a short film called My Best Friend's Birthday. It was never fully finished, but some of its ideas were used in his later movie True Romance. In 1988, he even had a small acting role as an Elvis impersonator in an episode of The Golden Girls.

Breakthrough Films

Tarantino has worked with director Robert Rodriguez many times.

Tarantino met producer Lawrence Bender at a barbecue. He told Bender about an idea for a heist film that would focus on conversations. Bender encouraged him to write it, and Tarantino finished the script in just three and a half weeks.

This script became Reservoir Dogs, released in 1992. Tarantino wrote, directed, and acted in the film. It was shown at the Sundance Film Festival and became an instant success with critics.

After Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction. He went to Amsterdam to focus on the script. The movie was a huge success, earning over $200 million. Tarantino won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for it, which he shared with Roger Avary. He also won the Palme d'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.

In 1995, Tarantino directed a part of the movie Four Rooms. He also acted in Desperado and wrote From Dusk till Dawn, which his friend Robert Rodriguez directed. His third major film was Jackie Brown (1997), which was a tribute to 1970s blaxploitation movies.

Later Works and Success

Tarantino in 2009

Tarantino then wrote and directed Kill Bill, a stylish revenge movie inspired by martial arts films and Spaghetti Westerns. He and lead actress Uma Thurman developed the story while making Pulp Fiction. The movie was so long that it was released as two parts: Volume 1 in 2003 and Volume 2 in 2004. Tarantino still sees them as one film.

From 2002 to 2004, Tarantino acted as a villain in the TV show Alias. In 2005, he directed a car chase scene in Robert Rodriguez's film Sin City. He also directed an episode of the TV show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation called "Grave Danger".

Tarantino at the French premiere of Django Unchained in January 2013

In 2007, Tarantino directed Death Proof. This film was part of a double feature called Grindhouse with Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror.

Tarantino's film Inglourious Basterds came out in 2009. It tells a different story about World War II in Nazi-occupied France. The movie received great reviews and was a box office success. Tarantino was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for it.

The Hateful Eight live reading at the Ace Hotel Los Angeles in April 2014

In 2011, he started making Django Unchained, a Western film about a former slave seeking revenge in 1858. Tarantino wanted to make movies about America's difficult past with slavery, but in the style of Westerns. The film was released in December 2012 and became his highest-earning movie at the time. He won his second Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for it.

His next film, The Hateful Eight, was another Western. The script was leaked online in 2014, which upset Tarantino. However, he decided to continue with the film after directing a live reading of the script. The Hateful Eight was released in December 2015 and received positive reviews.

Tarantino with Margot Robbie at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival

In 2017, Tarantino announced his next project, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It starred Leonardo DiCaprio as a fictional TV Western star and Brad Pitt as his stunt double. Margot Robbie played real-life actress Sharon Tate. The film premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and was released in July 2019. It received excellent reviews and earned 10 Oscar nominations.

Tarantino has mentioned that he plans to retire from directing after making a total of ten films. He believes this will help ensure all his movies are of high quality. He considers the two Kill Bill films as one movie, so he is getting close to his goal.

Producing Films

Tarantino has used his influence in Hollywood to help smaller and foreign films get noticed. These films are often introduced as "Presented by Quentin Tarantino." In 1995, he started a company called Rolling Thunder Pictures to release independent and foreign movies.

He helped bring the Hong Kong martial arts film Iron Monkey (2001) and the Chinese martial arts film Hero (2004) to the U.S. Both films did very well. He also helped produce Freedom's Fury (2006), a documentary about a famous water polo match.

Saving Old Theaters

Tarantino at the 82nd Academy Awards in 2010

In 2010, Tarantino bought the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. He wanted to make sure the theater kept showing movies on traditional 35mm film. He said, "As long as I'm alive, and as long as I'm rich, the New Beverly will be there, showing films shot on 35 mm."

Since 2014, Tarantino has been more involved in choosing which films are shown at the New Beverly, often showing movies from his own collection. In 2021, he also bought the Vista Theatre in Los Angeles, planning to keep it a first-run theater that shows movies on film.

Books and Podcasts

In 2020, Tarantino signed a deal to write two books. His first novel, a book version of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, was published in 2021. His second book, Cinema Speculation, about films from the New Hollywood era, came out in 2022.

In 2021, Tarantino announced he would start a podcast with Roger Avary. The podcast is called "Video Archives," named after the video store where they both used to work. They talk about films that could have been rented at the store. The podcast started in July 2022.

Life Outside Films

Family Life

Quentin Tarantino has dated several actresses and filmmakers over the years, including Mira Sorvino and Sofia Coppola.

On June 30, 2017, he got engaged to Israeli singer Daniella Pick. They first met in 2009 when Tarantino was in Israel promoting Inglourious Basterds. They got married on November 28, 2018. They split their time between Tel Aviv, Israel, and Los Angeles. They have two children: a son born in February 2020 and a daughter born in July 2022, both born in Israel.

Beliefs

As a child, Tarantino attended an Evangelical church. He later said he was "baptized, born again and everything in between." As he grew older, he became less sure about his religious beliefs. In June 2021, Tarantino stated that he is an atheist.

Filmography

Quentin Tarantino at the Inglourious Basterds premiere in Leicester Square, July 23, 2009.

Tarantino has said he plans to direct only ten films in total before retiring. He believes this will help ensure all his movies are of high quality. He counts Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2 as one single film.

Working with Others

Tarantino often works with the same actors in many of his films. This group of actors is sometimes called his "repertory company."

• Samuel L. Jackson has appeared in five films directed by Tarantino and one he wrote.
• Uma Thurman has been in three films and Tarantino calls her his "muse" (a source of inspiration).
• Zoë Bell has acted or done stunts in seven of his films.
• Michael Madsen, James Parks, and Tim Roth have also appeared in several of his movies.

Other actors who have worked with Tarantino multiple times include Michael Bacall, Michael Bowen, Bruce Dern, Harvey Keitel, Michael Parks, Kurt Russell, and Craig Stark.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt have each been in two Tarantino films, including Once Upon a Time in Hollywood together. Christoph Waltz won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for each of his two roles in Tarantino's films: Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained.

Before her death in 2010, film editor Sally Menke worked on all of Tarantino's films. He called her his "number one collaborator."

Awards and Recognition

Quentin Tarantino and his films have won many important awards. He has won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay twice, for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained. He has been nominated four times for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, winning once for Pulp Fiction in 1994.

In 2005, Time magazine included him on their list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2007, The Daily Telegraph listed him among the "Top 100 Living Geniuses." Filmmaker and historian Peter Bogdanovich called him "the single most influential director of his generation." Tarantino also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

A study in 2013 found that Tarantino was the most-studied director in the United Kingdom in film essays and dissertations. He was studied more than famous directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg.

Actors who won or were nominated for Academy Awards in Tarantino's films: Under Tarantino's direction, these actors have received Academy Award nominations (and wins) for their performances in their roles.

See also

In Spanish: Quentin Tarantino para niños

• Quentin Tarantino Film Festival, a film festival in Austin, Texas, United States, hosted by Tarantino
• QT8: The First Eight, a 2019 documentary about Tarantino