Despite only having a small number of movies to his name Zack Snyder is widely regarded as one of the most visionary and experimental filmmakers that is currently working in Hollywood at the moment.
The filmmaker, screenwriter and producer, who was born in Wisconsin and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, began his career in television adverts for the likes of Audi after attending the Art Centre College of Design in Pasadena, California.
And it wasn't until 2004 that Snyder make his feature film debut in the form of horror remake Dawn of the Dead.
Following a handful of human survivors living in a shopping mall that's surrounded by zombie the movie was remake of the 1978 classic by George A. Romero and was met by mixed reviews.
However by grossing over $102 million at the global box office, easily making back it's $28 million budget, it began one of very few zombie films that have broken the $100 million barrier.
But it was Snyder's next movie 300 that really showed his filmmaking flair as he adapted Frank Miller's graphic novel, following in the footsteps of Sin City.
300 is a ferocious retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army.
Facing insurmountable odds, their valour and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite against their Persian enemy, drawing a line in the sand for democracy.
It took a staggering $70m in its first weekend at the US Box Office and won the hearts of film and graphic novel fans alike.
And shot mostly with a super-imposition chroma key technique, to help replicate the imagery of the original comic book 300 was one of the most visually stunning movies released in 2007.
Since the release of 300 Snyder has been working on Watchmen, the graphic novel by Alan Moore, that gets it's release this week.
Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the Doomsday Clock, which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union -- moves closer to midnight.
When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the outlawed but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes.
As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion, a disbanded group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers, Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future.
Their mission is to watch over humanity...but who is watching the Watchmen?
After two graphic novel adaptation on the bounce it's a change of genre for the filmmaker next as he steps into the world of animation with Guardians of Ga'Hoole, which is based on a series of books of the same name.
Watchmen is released today.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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