Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow is an American film director best known for her adrenaline-soaked action movies and also for being the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director (for The Hurt Locker).

All of her movies tend to focus on characters who knowingly and willingly place themselves in harm's way in order to accomplish something that has to be done and at times seem to be addicted to the thrill of the chase.

She used to be married to James Cameron, who co-wrote and produced her Strange Days. Some were afraid this would cause awkwardness during the 2009 Oscar race, when her The Hurt Locker and his Avatar were considered the frontrunners for Best Picture, but there was no bad blood between them at all, with Cameron praising The Hurt Locker for being "this generation's Platoon" and even encouraging Academy voters to vote for Bigelow as Best Director.

Currently, she is filming the thriller Zero Dark Thirty, about the hunt to assassinate Osama Bin Laden. The film is scheduled for release in December 2012.

Filmography:

 * Near Dark (1984)
 * Blue Steel (1989)
 * Point Break (1991)
 * Strange Days (1995)
 * The Weight Of Water (2000)
 * K19 The Widowmaker (2002)
 * The Hurt Locker (2009)
 * Zero Dark Thirty (2012)