James Cameron (China Inland Mission)

James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability with his use of novel technologies. He first gained recognition for writing and directing '' The Terminator'' (1984) and found further success with '' Aliens'' (1986), ''The Abyss'' (1989), '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1991), and the action comedy ''True Lies'' (1994). He wrote and directed ''Titanic'' (1997) and ''Avatar'' (2009), with ''Titanic'' earning him Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing. A recipient of various other industry accolades, two of his films have been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

Cameron co-founded the production companies Lightstorm Entertainment, Digital Domain, and Earthship Productions. In addition to filmmaking, he is a National Geographic sea explorer and has produced many documentaries on the subject, including ''Ghosts of the Abyss'' (2003) and ''Aliens of the Deep'' (2005). Cameron has also contributed to underwater filming and remote vehicle technologies and helped create the digital 3D Fusion Camera System. In 2012, Cameron became the first person to do a solo descent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Earth's ocean, in the ''Deepsea Challenger'' submersible.

Cameron's films have grossed over $8 billion worldwide, making him the second highest-grossing film director of all time. Three of Cameron's films are amongst the top four highest-grossing films of all time; ''Avatar,'' ''Titanic'', and '' Avatar: The Way of Water'' (2022), are the highest, third, and fourth highest-grossing films of all time, respectively. Cameron holds the achievement of having directed the first two of the six films in history to gross over $2 billion worldwide. He is also the only director to have three films grossed over $2 billion worldwide. In 2010, ''Time'' named Cameron as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Cameron is also an environmentalist and runs several sustainability businesses.

Early life

James Francis CameronSpace Foundation. (n.d.)
America's vision: The case for space exploration
, p. 42. Retrieved December 12, 2009. was born on August 16, 1954, in Kapuskasing, Ontario, to Philip Cameron, an electrical engineer, and Shirley (), an artist and nurse. He is the first of five children, with two brothers and two sisters. His paternal great-great-great-grandfather immigrated from Balquhidder, Scotland, in 1825. Cameron spent summers on his grandfather's farm in southern Ontario. He attended Stamford Collegiate in Niagara Falls. At age 17, Cameron and his family moved from Chippawa to Brea, California. He attended Sonora High School and then moved to Brea Olinda High School. Classmates recalled that he was not a sportsman but instead enjoyed building things that "either went up into the air or into the deep".

After high school, Cameron enrolled at Fullerton College, a community college in 1973 to study physics. He switched subjects to English, but left the college at the end of 1974. He worked odd jobs, including as a truck driver and a janitor, but wrote in his free time. During this period, he learned about special effects by reading other students' work on " optical printing, or front screen projection, or dye transfers, anything that related to film technology" at the library. After the excitement of seeing '' Star Wars'' in 1977, Cameron quit his job as a truck driver to enter the film industry.

Film career

Early work and 1980s

Cameron's directing career began in 1978. After borrowing money from a consortium of dentists, he learned to direct, write and produce his first short film, '' Xenogenesis'' (1978) with a friend. Learning as they went, Cameron said he felt like a doctor doing his first surgical procedure. He then served as a production assistant for ''Rock 'n' Roll High School'' (1979). While educating himself about filmmaking techniques, Cameron started a job as a miniature model maker at Roger Corman Studios. He was soon employed as an art director for the science-fiction film ''Battle Beyond the Stars'' (1980). He carried out the special effects for John Carpenter's ''Escape from New York'' (1981), served as production designer for ''Galaxy of Terror'' (1981), and consulted on the design for '' Android'' (1982).

Cameron was hired as the special effects director for the sequel to ''Piranha'' (1978), titled '' Piranha II: The Spawning'' in 1982. The original director, Miller Drake, left the project due to creative differences with producer Ovidio Assonitis. Shot in Rome, Italy and on Grand Cayman, the film gave Cameron the opportunity to become director for a major film for the first time. However, Cameron later said that it did not feel like his first film due to power-struggles with Assonitis. Disillusioned from being in Rome and suffering a fever, Cameron had a nightmare about an invincible robot hit-man sent from the future to assassinate him, which later led to the inspiration of '' The Terminator''. Upon release of ''Piranha II: The Spawning'', critics were not impressed; author Tim Healey called it "a marvellously bad movie which splices clichés from every conceivable source".

Inspired by John Carpenter's horror film '' Halloween'' (1978), in 1982 Cameron wrote the script for '' The Terminator'' (1984), a sci-fi action film about a cyborg sent from the future to carry out a lethal mission. Cameron wanted to sell the script so that he could direct the movie. Whilst some film studios expressed interest in the project, many executives were unwilling to let a new and unfamiliar director make the movie. Gale Anne Hurd, a colleague and founder of Pacific Western Productions, agreed to buy Cameron's script for one dollar, on the condition that Cameron direct the film. He convinced the president of Hemdale Pictures to make the film, with Cameron as director and Hurd as a producer. Lance Henriksen, who starred in ''Piranha II: The Spawning'', was considered for the lead role, but Cameron decided that Arnold Schwarzenegger was more suitable as the cyborg villain due to his bodybuilder appearance. Henriksen was given a smaller role instead. Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton also joined the cast. ''The Terminator'' was a box office success, exceeding expectations set by Orion Pictures. The film proved popular with audiences and earned over $78 million worldwide. George Perry of the BBC
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