Quentin Jerome Tarantino (/ˌtærənˈtiːnoʊ/; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker and actor. His films are characterized by nonlinear storylines, aestheticization of violence, extended scenes of dialogue, ensemble casts, references to popular culture and a wide variety of other films, soundtracks primarily containing songs and score pieces from the 1960s to the 1980s, alternate history, and features of neo-noir film.
He began his career as an independent filmmaker with the release of Reservoir Dogs in 1992, which was funded by money from the sale of his script True Romance. Empire deemed Reservoir Dogs the "Greatest Independent Film of All Time". His second film, Pulp Fiction (1994), a comedy crime film, was a major success both among critics and audiences. He also wrote the screenplay for and starred in the vampire film From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). Tarantino paid homage to the blaxploitation films of the 1970s with Jackie Brown (1997), an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch.