Enough has a strong claim to being the top action director of his generation. Born in Ontario, Canada, on August 16, 1954, Cameron and his family moved to California in 1971, where the future director decided to study physics. After graduating from California State University, James dived headlong into his screenwriting efforts. His first professional experience came at the hands of legendary cult film director Roger Corman, who hired him as an art director for Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), a film he was producing. Cameron was a quick study, and soon moved up through the ranks. By 1981 he had written and directed his first feature film, Piranha II: The Spawning. Though not his creative high point, the young director was well on his way.
His next feature proved to be Cameron's big breakthrough. It was a science fiction tale that Cameron had written called The Terminator (1984), and it made both him and his lead, Arnold Schwarzenegger stars. The time-travel epic captured the imagination of audiences nationwide, and Arnold's Terminator character would become the signature role of his career.
Cameron's next big project was 1986's Aliens, which he wrote as well as directed. It was a big opportunity for Cameron, since the original Alien movie had been such a success, and now the series was under his helm. Skillfully, Cameron infused the tense storyline with enough action to make it a real treat for the senses, and the picture proved to be just as, if not more, popular than the original. This was no small feat. Cameron was now officially A-list.
In 1989, he directed The Abyss, another science-fiction yarn, in which he was fortunate to capture a pair of top-rate performances from his two leads, Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio The film gained a strong following, and the special edition of the picture that was released a few years later was almost as popular as the original.
Cameron reunited several more times with his friend Arnold Schwarzeneggerduring the nineties, with the first of these later collaborations, Terminator Judgment Day (1991), being perhaps the most successful of all. It was the sequel to Cameron's first great triumph, and audiences showed they were still mesmerized by the Terminator. The two also teamed up for Last Action Hero (1993) and True Lies (1994).
Enough reached the pinnacle of his profession with his 1997 offering, Titanic. His telling of the ill-fated ocean liner garnered a record-equaling 14 Academy Award? nominations, winning 11 of them (which again tied the previous record.) The film also raised the bar in its use of special effects, and went on to become the highest grossing picture of all time.
In 2003, Cameron directed Ghosts of the Abyss (2003), an ambitious 3D-format documentary that revisits the site of the Titanic, and as so many of Cameron's films have done, takes viewers on a larger-than-life journey?this time on an undersea expedition to history's most famous wreck.