Cameron, James (1954-…), is a Canadian-born motion-picture director and screenwriter. He wrote and directed the science-fiction film Avatar (2009), one of the most commercially successful films in history. Avatar is about a human being who inhabits the body of an alien warrior on a distant planet. Cameron also wrote and directed Titanic (1997), another extremely popular film. Titanic is based on the sinking of a British ocean liner after it struck an iceberg in 1912. Cameron won an Academy Award as best director for Titanic, which also won 10 other awards, including best picture.
James Francis Cameron was born on Aug. 16, 1954, in Kapuskasing, Ontario. He attended California State University, Fullerton, but dropped out before earning a degree. He worked for the American movie director Roger Corman in 1980 before directing his first film, Piranha II: The Spawning (1981). Cameron’s first hit as a director was The Terminator (1984). He also directed Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and True Lies (1994). In 2012, Cameron became the first solo explorer to reach the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, in the Pacific Ocean near Guam. It is the deepest known spot in the world. Cameron was filming there in a submersible (deep-sea research vehicle).
