Vincenzo Natali (1969)

 early life

Natali was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a nursery school teacher/painter mother and a photographer father. He is of Italian and English descent. He moved to Toronto, along with his family, at the age of one. He attended the film programme at Ryerson University. He was eventually hired as a storyboard artist at the Nelvana Animation Studios.

 career

Natali's directing debut came in 1997, when he was approached to direct Cube . The film became a success worldwide, especially in Japan and France, grossing $15 million in France, and breaking box office records for a Canadian film. At the 19th Genie Awards, the film received five nominations and also won the award for Best Canadian First Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival. After this success, Natali went on to direct Cypher and Nothing .

Following the June 2010 release of Splice , Natali's next efforts were expected to be an adaptation of High Rise and a 3D adaptation of the Len Wein/Berni Wrightson comic book character Swamp Thing, for producer Joel Silver. A May 2010 item in The Hollywood Reporter, however, announced that Natali was to replace Joseph Khan as director of the highly anticipated adaptation of cyberpunk author William Gibson's 1984 masterwork Neuromancer. Natali is nominated for the 4th Annual Splatcademy Awards under the category "Best Director" presented by Cadaver Lab for his work Splice.

David Hewlett, who has participated in all of Natali's major films to date, has been good friends with him since high school.