Director Martin Scorsese is on e of the film industry's most well known, successful and influential filmmakers with an impressive body of work.This writer, producer and director is responsible for bringing to the big screen cinematic classics like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and The colour of Money.With such an impressive string of movies to his name it's difficult to believe that this filmmaker has only one Best Director Oscar, which came in 2006 for The Departed.Scorsese attended New York's Film School where he quickly started making short films, the most famous being The Big Shave in 1967.Despite making his first feature length film, Who's That Knocking At My Door, later that same year it wasn't until 1972 that Mean Streets was released.Depression era gangster film Mean Streets was Scorsese's cinematic debut. He used the themes of bloody violence, redemption and Catholic guilt, which would later be repeated in future movies.

Mean Streets was his breakthrough film but it was Taxi Driver, which was released in 1976, that really established him as a highly accomplished filmmaker.

The film, which was grim and violent, went on to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture.

In 1980 the De Niro/Scorsese partnership enjoyed further success with Raging Bull, which is widely regarded as his best picture.

Despite this when it was released some of the critics troubled by the amounts of violence, however by the end of the eighties it was deemed to be a modern classic.

Robert De Niro won his second Oscar for his performance as Jake La Motta and the film was recognised for it's editing.

It received six other nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Joe Pesci and Best Supporting Actress (Cathy Moriarty).

His next two pictures severely damaged his reputation The King of Comedy, a satire on the world of media and celebrity, failed at the box office and his next project After Hours collapsed.

Despite these problems he returned with The LAst Temptation of Christ, a very personal picture for the director, which told the life of Jesus from a human rather than a divine perspective.

Despite causing controversy amongst the religious community the film gained critical acclaim.

1990 saw Scorsese return to form with Academy Award nominated crime drama Goodfellas.

based on the book Wiseguy, the true story of Henry Hill a mob informer, the film is regarded as one of the best movies in this genre.

It was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, but won just one, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Joe Pesci.

During the early part of his career De Niro and Scorsese were a formidable partnership but more recently Scorsese has teamed up with Leonardo DiCaprio.

The couple's first picture came in 2002 with Gangs of New York. The film is set in the mid-1800s, when the streets of lower Manhattan were teeming with tension and violence.

The film was nominated for ten Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, but it failed to win any.

Since then the Scorsese and DiCaprio partnership has enjoyed success with The Aviator and crime thriller The Departed.

The Departed, which was released in 2006 and was based on the Hong Kong drama Infernal Affairs, finally gave Scorsese a Best Director Oscar it also picked up best Picture.

Scorsese's new project is a documentary film that spans the career of rock and roll legends The Rolling Stones, including footage from the two concerts at Beacon Theatre in New York in 2006.

Shine A Light is released 11th April

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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