Atom Egoyan

Born in Egypt to Armenian parents, he was raised in Western Canada. Both his parents were painters, and he planned to be a playwright, but after making a short film, he became hooked on telling stories visually. Returned to ethnic "homeland" when he filmed _Calendar (1993)_ (qv) in Armenia. Won attention at the Sundance Film Festival for earlier work, then broke through critically and commercially with _Exotica (1994)_ (qv). Afterwards, _The Sweet Hereafter (1997)_ (qv) led him to receive two Academy Award nominations, and then _Chloe (2009)_ (qv) became his biggest moneymaker ever (after the film's DVD/Blu-ray release).::mwprods@mindspring.com