Eli Roth began shooting super 8 films at the age of eight, after watching Ridley Scott's "Alien," and deciding he wanted to be a producer/director. Roth made over 50 short films with his brothers and friends before attending film school at N.Y.U., where he won a student Academy Award and graduated Suma Cum Laude in 1994. He worked in film and theater production in New York City for many years, doing every job from production assistant to assistant editor to assistant to the director. By the age of 20 Roth was development head for producer Fred Zollo, and eventually left to write full time. To earn his living, Roth did budgets and schedules for such films as "A Price Above Rubies" and "Illuminata," and often worked as a stand-in, where he could watch the director work with the actors.

In 1995, Roth co-wrote "Cabin Fever" with friend Randy Pearlstein, and the two spent many years unsuccessfully trying to get the film financed. Roth left New York in 1999 to live in Los Angeles, and within four months got funding for his animation series "Chowdheads." Roth and friend Noah Belson (Cabin Fever's "Guitar Man") wrote and voiced the episodes, which Roth produced, directed and designed. The episodes were due to run on W.C.W.'s #1 rated series "Monday Nitro," but the C.E.O. was fired a day before they were scheduled to air, and the episodes never ran. Roth used the episodes to set up a stop motion series called "The Rotten Fruit," which he produced, directed and animated, as well as co-wrote and voiced with friend Noah Belson. Between the two animated series, Roth worked closely with director David Lynch, producing content for the website davidlynch.com.

In 2001, Roth filmed "Cabin Fever" for a shoestring budget of $1.5 million, with private equity he and his producers raised from friends and family. The film was the subject of a bidding war at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival, eventually going to Lion's Gate, instantly doubling the "Cabin Fever" investors' money. "Cabin Fever" went on to not only be the highest grossing film for Lion's Gate in 2003, but the most profitable horror film released that year, garnering critical acclaim from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Empire Magazine, and such filmmakers as Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, and Tobe Hooper. Roth used the "Cabn Fever"'s success to launch a slew of projects, including "Scavenger Hunt," a teen comedy he will write and direct for Universal Studios, and "The Box," a horror thriller he is co-writing with Richard Kelly that Roth will direct. In May of 2003, Roth joined forces with filmmakers Boaz Yakin, Scott Spiegel, and Greenestreet Films in New York to form Raw Nerve, LLC, a new production company that will produce 3-5 intense, scary, lower budget horror films annually.

Credit: imdb.com