Biography for
M. Night Shyamalan More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

6 August 1970, Mahé, Pondicherry, India

Birth Name

Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan

Height

5' 11" (1.80 m)

Mini Biography

Born in India but raised in the posh suburban Penn Valley area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, M. Night Shyamalan is the son of two doctors. His passion for filmmaking began when he was given a Super-8 camera at age eight, and even at that young age began to model his career on that of his idol, Steven Spielberg. His first film, Praying with Anger (1992), was based somewhat on his own trip back to visit the India of his birth. He raised all the funds for this project, in addition to directing, producing and starring in it. Wide Awake (1998), his second film, he wrote and directed, and shot it in the Philadelphia-area Catholic school he once attended--even though his family was of a different religion, they sent him to that school because of its strict discipline.

IMDb Mini Biography By: < mwprods@mindspring.com>

Spouse

Bhavna Vaswani

(1993 - present) 2 children

Trade Mark

Frequently uses Philadelphia as the backdrop in his movies. As seen in the films Wide Awake (1998), The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002) and The Village (2004).

Having some sort of twist in the end or surprise ending in his films.

Frequently uses shots of people's reflections in various objects.

Many of his films involve two ordinary individuals with extraordinary abilities or events happening to them. One of the people either has connections to a child or is a child, and the one connected to the child is always having marital difficulties.

Frequently uses fluttering curtains, such as when Bruce Willis discovers the victimized mother in Unbreakable (2000) and in the last shot of Signs (2002).

Films often use an event from the main character's past as a major connection to what is happening in the present (the Vincent Gray case in The Sixth Sense (1999), the car crash in Unbreakable (2000), the death of the wife in Signs (2002))

Makes cameo appearances in his own movies, like Alfred Hitchcock, one of his favorite directors.

Frequently uses water as a sign of death or weakness (the aliens in Signs (2002) and David Dunn in Unbreakable (2000) both have the same weakness; in The Sixth Sense (1999), Malcolm Crowe's killer is hiding in a bathroom. In The Village (2004), Finton becomes too scared to continue on with Ivy when it is raining.)

Car crashes play pivotal roles in all his films: Cole reveals his gift to his mother during a traffic jam in The Sixth Sense (1999), David "loses" his football abilities in a car accident in Unbreakable (2000), and Graham's wife dies in a bizarre car accident in Signs (2002).

Many of his films have an important scene set in a basement. The Sixth Sense (1999): Malcolm is in the basement when discovering important plot information; Unbreakable (2000): David discovers his strength in a basement; Signs (2002): The family is in the basement when the aliens attack. In The Village (2004), when they are in the cellar (basement) Ivy discovers that Lucius really does care for her.

His films tend to be religiously themed.

Lengthy, uncut, immovable shot of two people talking. Usually the two characters are standing a distance from the camera.

Use of bright colors, especially red, to signify a clue or crucial item in the movie.

Always works with James Newton Howard for the musical score.

Never uses stock sound effects; insists that all foley sounds, ambience, and other audio be originally created

Often works with particular actors twice in consecutive movies. For example Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, both Joaquin Phoenix and Cherry Jones in Signs and The Village, and Bryce Dallas Howard in The Village and Lady in the Water.

Films contain widowed spouses or struggling/abandoned marriages. Anna Crowe in The Sixth Sense was a widow and Lynn Sear's husband had abandoned them. The struggling relationship of David and Audrey in Unbreakable. Graham was a widow in Signs. Alice was a widow in The Village. Cleveland was a widow in Lady in the Water. Finally, the struggling marriage of Alma and Elliott in The Happening.

Trivia

Episcopal Academy, the private school in Lower Merion, PA (one of the wealthiest suburbs in the U.S., and home at one time or another to the likes of Kobe Bryant and Blythe Danner, among others) where Shymalan was sent, is actually a private academy that is affiliated with the Episcopalian Church.

Shymalan lives in Wayne, Pennsylvania, part of the affluent "Main Line" suburban region of Philadelphia that includes communities like Lower Merion, Upper Merion, Bala Cynwyd, Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, and Villanova.

His parents, wife and 9 other family members are MDs and/or Ph.Ds.

Name pronounced "SHAH-ma-lawn".

His middle name "Night" was made up during college.

Aside from Wide Awake (1998) and The Happening (2008), Shyamalan has a credited appearance in each of the feature films he has directed.

One of the first scripts he sold was called "Labor of Love" about a man who walks across country to prove his love for his recently deceased wife. As of March 2001, it has still not been made.

Graduated from New York University.

He is an avid comic book fan, which was made apparent in his film Unbreakable (2000).

Recipient of Episcopal Acamemy's 2001 Distinguished Alumni Award.

1988 Graduate of Episcopal Academy.

The silver charm worn around his neck was given to him by his father and contains Sanskrit proverbs to keep him safe.

Became the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood when Disney gave him $5 million to write Signs (2002).

Son of Jayalakshmi Shyamalan and Nelliate C. Shyamalan

Said in the bonus disk that the movie Unbreakable (2000) was made from what started as only the first third of the original script. He said he felt no connection to the last two thirds of the text and decided to discard them.

Ranked #21 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #64 in 2002.

Ranked #23 in Premiere's 2004 annual Power 100 List. He was the 5th-highest ranked director. Had ranked #21 in 2003.

Favorite film of all time is Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

His three supernatural thrillers, The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), and Signs (2002), grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide.

Has in his office posters from 3 of his most favorite movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), The Exorcist (1973), and Die Hard (1988).

Made many films using a video camera when he was young. When his theatrical films go to DVD, he puts in a scene from one of his childhood films that marks his first attempt at the same kind of movie. The Sixth Sense (1999) includes the ghost story Nightmare on Old Gulf, Unbreakable (2000) includes the action movie Millionaire, Signs (2002) includes the monster movie Pictures, and The Village includes an untitled period piece.

His inspiration for The Sixth Sense (1999) was based on an episode from "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" (1991). The Tale of the Dream Girl directed by David Winning.

His Wide Awake (1998) was one of the year's lowest-grossing, least- profitable films; in contrast, The Sixth Sense (1999) was 1999's No.2 box-office phenomenon, surpassed only by Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).

Graduate of Waldron and Episcopal academies; NYU (1992) Tisch School of the Arts.

Completed 45 homemade movies by age 17.

Ranked #30 on Premiere's 2005 Power 50 List. Had ranked #23 in 2004.

Father of Saleka Shyamalan.

Has worked with two Academy Award-nominated child actors. He led the first one to a nomination (Haley Joel Osment in "The Sixth Sense" (1999)), and he discovered the second (Abigail Breslin in "Signs" (2002)), who was nominated for "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006).

Has a reputation for attaining A-list actors of his first choice to star in his films, in roles specifically written for them. Shyamalan was able to cast Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense (1999), Samuel L. Jackson in Unbreakable (2000), Mel Gibson in Signs (2002), Joaquin Phoenix in The Village (2004), Paul Giamatti in Lady in the Water (2006), and Mark Wahlberg in his next project, The Happening (2008).

He and Dan Aykroyd, are the only two men to direct themselves in performances that "won" them a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor. Shyamalan "won" the award for, and also directed, the film Lady in the Water (2006).

His six favorite movies are Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), The Exorcist (1973), Die Hard (1988), Psycho (1960), Nayakan (1987) and Reservoir Dogs (1992).

Personal Quotes

I play for a living...Success is tied to a feeling of magic, which I can protect.

My hope is we broke so many rules we created a new rule.

The idea is to always go for the thing that's risky. I want to be courageous and original. And original means, you don't know what 'colour' movie you just saw.

Movie making is not like other artforms, like painting, or writing a novel, because that can be disgested or interpreted... It takes two years to make each one of these, and it's always judged on money.

All of my movies have made money, and that's important for me - it's my job to make money for the studio...

That's the way stories come to me, they come to me very naturally like that. If this was a story about me and someone else, I would be withholding information about them immediately. The negative thing about the twist is that it's all people are occupied with; all the gentleness in the movie is being overshadowed by the flashy cousin in the sequined vest taking centre-stage. [on surprise endings]

When you say fear of the unknown, that is the definition of fear; fear is the unknown, fear is what you do not know, and it's genetically within us so that we feel safe. We feel scared of the woods because we're not familiar with it, and that keeps you safe.

I have this whole picture of the film in my head and then I put it all down on paper and storyboard it; showing the movie shot by shot. I like to feel that I have thought of everything before the camera starts rolling but I think that's probably my asset and weakness as a film maker. I am giving my cast a target that I have in my mind and they are trying to hit it. It's positive because I know exactly what I want to get out of my actors and the scene. But the negative is that I might not catch the lightning in the bottle, I may not get that unexpected improvised brilliance.

I think I take what you might call a B-movie story, deal with B-movie subjects, and I treat it as if it's an A-movie in terms of my approach, my crew, my actors, my ethics and so on. I guess that's my trademark or one of them anyway!

I'm going to stop making movies if they end the cinema experience. If there's a last film that's released only theatrically, it'll have my name on it. This is life or death to me. If you tell audiences there's no difference between a theatrical experience and a DVD, then that's it, game's over, and that whole art form is going to go away slowly. Movies will end up being this esoteric art form, where only singular people will put films out in a small group of theaters.

You get in my corner, you're going to get pummeled.

"It's human nature. Twenty-six people love the movie, and the 27th person hates it, and the only thing you can think about is the 27th person." (on critics)

I am fully aware of the giant risk I'm taking. Being as eccentric as my mind will let me and then hearing people's responses. This requires an incredible amount of pain. Everyone around me, 98%, at some point doubted.

If you're not betting on me, then nobody should get money. I've made profit a mathematical certainty. I'm the safest bet you got.

Except for Pixar, I have made the four most successful original movies in a row of all time.

My movies don't get acclaim the day they come. I have to wait longer.

Salary

The Village (2004)	$10,700,000 (Story rights ($7.2 million); Writing services ($300,000); Producing ($3 million); Directing ($221,000).).
Signs (2002)	$12,500,000 (writing, directing, and co-producing)
Unbreakable (2000)	$10,000,000
The Sixth Sense (1999)	$3,000,000

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