Martin Scorsese was born in 1942 in New York City, and grew up in the tough downtown neighborhood of Little Italy, which later provided the inspiration for several of his films. He suffered from severe asthma as a child and could not play outside or participate in sports, so his parents took him often to the movies. He was fascinated by the images on the screen and often drew his own movies at home. Mr. Scorsese graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, and received a B.S. (1964) and M.S. (1968) from New York University.

At N.Y.U., he made several award-winning student films (including It's Not Just You, Murray! and The Big Shave) and wrote the script for what became his first feature film, Who's That Knocking At My Door?, released theatrically in 1969. He also served on the faculty from 1968 to 1970.

In 1970, Mr. Scorsese moved to Hollywood where he met Roger Corman who asked him to direct Boxcar Bertha (1972), starring David Carradine and Barbara Hershey. Encouraged by John Cassavetes to pursue a more personal style of filmmaking, Mr. Scorsese began work on Mean Streets, an autobiographical story set in Little Italy (although most of it was shot in Los Angeles). Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro played the lead parts and Mr. Scorsese used his favorite records for the sound track. Acclaimed at the 1973 New York Film Festival and by the critics, Mean Streets was his breakthrough film.

Recommended by Francis Ford Coppola to Warner Bros. and to Ellen Burstyn, Mr. Scorsese next directed Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974). The picture was his first major commercial success and won Ms. Burstyn the Best Actress Oscar®. In the same year, he made a documentary about his parents, Italianamerican. When it was presented at the New York Film Festival, the credits, which included his mother's recipe for spaghetti sauce, received a standing ovation.

Taxi Driver (1976) was his next feature. Written by Paul Schrader, it starred Robert De Niro in one of his most electrifying performances as the Vietnam vet/cabby Travis Bickle. Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster, and Cybill Shepherd were also in the controversial film. It received four Oscar® nominations and was awarded the Palme d"Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

The following year (1977), Mr. Scorsese and Mr. De Niro teamed up again for New York, New York, co-starring Liza Minnelli, a drama about the marriage of two creative people shot as an old-fashioned Hollywood musical. The Last Waltz (1978) was Mr. Scorsese's documentary of the extraordinary last concert by The Band, performed by such rock 'n' roll legends as Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, and Ringo Starr.

It was his next picture, Raging Bull, that firmly established Martin Scorsese's artistic reputation. Released in 1980, it was named Best Film of the Decade by numerous magazine and critics' polls and was nominated for six Oscars®, including Best Director. It won two: Best Actor to Robert De Niro for his brilliant performance as the self-destructive boxer Jake La Motta, and Best Editing to Thelma Schoonmaker. Using Raging Bull (which he shot in black-and-white) as evidence, Mr. Scorsese launched a successful international campaign against the manufacture of color-fading film stock.

He then directed The King of Comedy, about the lure of show business, with Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis, in 1982. When the movie did not succeed financially, Mr. Scorsese decided to make an independent movie, After Hours (1985), with Griffin Dunne and Rosanna Arquette, for which he won the Best Director Award at Cannes. He returned to a studio project with The Color of Money in 1986. Paul Newman received his first Best Actor Oscar® for his portrayal of a pool shark. The following year Mr. Scorsese made a video for Michael Jackson's "Bad" and a commercial for Georgio Armani.

In 1988, after many years of trying to get financing, Mr. Scorsese finally brought a cherished project to the screen. Based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ caused an uproar and demonstrations by church groups around the world. Mr. Scorsese received his second Academy Award nomination for Best Director for the film. In 1989, he directed "Life Lessons," part of the New York Stories trilogy (the other segments were by Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola). "Life Lessons" is a study of artistic temperament starring Nick Nolte as a painter and Rosanna Arquette as the woman he is obsessed with.

In 1990, Mr. Scorsese and seven other prominent filmmakers created the Film Foundation, which serves as an intermediary between the studios and film archives to encourage the restoration and preservation of the films in their libraries.

GoodFellas, based on the life of a Mafia foot soldier played by Ray Liotta, came out in 1990 and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Writing nominations for Mr. Scorsese. Joe Pesci won for Best Supporting Actor. It received numerous critics awards (Best Picture and Best Director by the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and National Society of Film Critics), won three British Academy Awards, including Best Direction, and Mr. Scorsese was given the Silver Lion at Venice. Right after the shooting of GoodFellas, he went to Japan to play the part of Van Gogh in Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. Also in 1990 he co-produced Stephen Frears' adaptation of Jim Thompson's hard-boiled novel The Grifters.

With Cape Fear (1991), Mr. Scorsese tackled the thriller. It was a powerful remake of the 1962 Gregory Peck/Robert Mitchum film about a vicious ex-convict (played by Robert De Niro) seeking revenge on the lawyer (played by Nick Nolte) who sent him to prison. Also starring Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis, Cape Fear was Mr. Scorsese's most financially successful film. In 1991, the French government made him a Commandeur des Arts et Lettres and he was honored by the American Cinematheque for his career. The following year he started a film company, Martin Scorsese Presents, devoted to the restoration and exhibition of classic films. Renoir's The Golden Couch, Visconti's Rocco and HIs Brothers, and Bunuel's Belle de Jour are some of the movies re-released under its aegis. In 1992, he produced Mad Dog and Glory.

The Age of Innocence (1993) was a sumptuous rendition of Edith Wharton's novel about New York society at the turn of the century. It starred Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder. It was a critical success and was nominated for five Oscars®, including a Best Writing nomination for Mr. Scorsese. In 1994, Mr. Scorsese played a small part in Robert Redford's Quiz Show and in Search and Destroy (1995), which he produced.

With Casino in 1995, Mr. Scorsese returned to the world of gangsters in an epic tale about the rise and fall of the mob in Las Vegas in the 1970s which starred Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone (who won the Golden Globe for her role). The following year, he completed a four-hour documentary, A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies, commissioned by the British Film Institute to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of cinema. In 1995, he received the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Mr. Scorsese produced Spike Lee's Clockers and Allison Anders' Grace of My Heart in 1996 and co-produced Matthew Harrison's Kicked in the Head in 1997. That year, he directed Kundun, the story of the early life of the present Dalai Lama who fled to India after the takeover of his country by the communist Chinese. Made in Morocco with a cast of non-actors, it was finally released by Disney after threats to the studio from the Chinese government. The movie received four Oscar® nominations and won many critics prizes for its cinematography and music. In May 1998, he received the Lifetime Career Award from Lincoln Center's Film Society, and was the President of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. He received the Legion d'Honneur from the Minister of Culture.

In 1999, Martin Scorsese directed Bringing Out the Dead, the story of a paramedic, played by Nicolas Cage, working at night on the streets of New York. He was the co-producer of Steven Frear's western The Hi-Lo Country and made a cameo appearance in Albert Brooks's movie The Muse. He was honored with a French Cesar for his work.

The following year he began shooting a long cherished project at Cinecitta in Rome. Gangs of New York, based on a script he first wrote 23 years ago, is a social and political drama set in the rugged downtown area of New York called The Five Points in the mid-nineteenth century. Starring Leonardo di Caprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz, the movie is scheduled for release on December 25, 2002. In 2000, Mr. Scorsese was the executive producer of Kenneth Lonergan's much lauded film You Can Count On Me and was elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Another project close to his heart, Il Mio Viaggio in Italia, is a history of Italian cinema seen through Mr. Scorsese's eyes. It was released in 2001 and won the William K. Everson History of Film Award from the National Board of Review. He was recently made a Cavaliere di Gran Croce by the President of Italy, and received a Valentino award and the David di Donatello for lifetime achievement.