Roman Polanski Biography

Reunited with his father, in 1945, Polanski went on to study at the Polish State Film School from 1954 to 1959, where his early short films were well received. In 1959, he married his first wife, Polish actress Barbara Lass. She appeared in his film 'When Angels Fall' and they divorced in 1961.

His first feature film, 'Knife in the Water' (1962), was a breakthrough, eliciting international acclaim and prompting the director to leave Poland for England.

In England he directed 'Repulsion'' (1965), 'Cul-de-Sac' (1966) and 'The Fearless Vampire Killers' (1967), the American version of which was re-cut by the producers and disowned by Polanski. While filming 'Fearless Vampire Killers', he met rising actress Sharon Tate and the pair wed in 1968.

Soon after, the migratory Polanski moved to the United States, where he directed the cult horror, 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968).

In 1969 tragedy struck, when the Manson Family murdered Polanski's then-pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, at the couple's mansion in Hollywood Hills. In his autobiography, Polanski has stated that the years he spent with Tate were the best of his life and his absence on the night in question is his "biggest regret".

The darkened tones of Polanski's macabre 'Macbeth' reflects the trauma of this experience, as do the scenes of violence in the film which are reminiscent of the tragedy.

In 1974 Polanski filmed his seminal classic, the noirish 'Chinatown', starring Jack Nicholson. But only a few years later he was convicted of the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl, and he fled to France to escape imprisonment.

In 1989, he married his third and current wife, French actress Emmanuelle Seigner. They have two children called Morgane and Elvis.

In exile in Europe, Polanski abandoned the cinema, returning to film in 1986 with his idiosyncratic swashbuckler spoof, 'Pirates'.

In 2002, Polanski directed 'The Pianist', a personal tale of Holocaust survival that won him a Best Director Oscar that the fugitive director was unable to collect, due to the US conviction.

He directed a film adaption of the Charles Dickens's classic 'Oliver Twist' in 2005 as he wanted to make a movie that he could show his children and he feels that the character's life mirrors his own, having had to fend for himself in World War II Poland.

In 2010 , he made the award-winning 'Ghost', a thriller about a ghostwriter hired to pen the memoirs of a character loosely based on Tony Blair, starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan.

It won six gongs at the European Film Awards in 2010, including Best Director, and Polanski won the Silver Bear for Best Director after the film made its debut at the 60th Berlinale in February 2010.

In 2011, Polanski made 'Carnage' based on Yasmina Reza's play 'Gods of Carnage'. Starring Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster, it tells the story of two couples whose children get into a fight at school and the chaos that ensues.