127 Hours

An experienced and stunning artist from an early age, AMBER TAMBLYN'S (Megan) dedication to her craft shines through the multifaceted characters she brings to life in film and television, and the intimately brave places she takes her readers as an author.

Amber will next be seen this fall on Fox's long-running and critically acclaimed series, HOUSE. She will play a highly intelligent med student that Hugh Laurie's character, "Dr. Gregory House" recruits for his diagnostic team, despite the fact that she isn't fully qualified to treat patients. HOUSE’S seventh season will premiere on Monday, September 20, at 8:00PM.

In film, Amber recently wrapped production on Horton Foote's MAIN STREET, in which she stars opposite Orlando Bloom.

Amber last starred in a present-day remake of the 1956 classic film noir, BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, starring opposite Michael Douglas. Previously, she was seen in the Warner Bros.' comedy SPRING BREAKDOWN which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and co-starred Parker Posey, Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch. In the summer of 2008, Amber reprised her role as Tibby from the 2005 film SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS in Warner Bros.' SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2. Amber also starred in Regent Films' STEPHANIE DALEY for which she received tremendous critical acclaim and a 2007 Independent Spirit Best Supporting Female Actress Nomination. The film premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival (Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award) to rave reviews. The film went on to the 2006 Locarno International Film Festival (Golden Bronze Leopard Best Actress Award for Amber) and the 2006 Milan International Film Festival (Best Director Award). The film, written and directed by Hilary Brougher has Amber starring in the title role opposite Tilda Swinton. STEPHANIE DALEY tells the story of a 16 year old girl who is accused of concealing her pregnancy and murdering her infant. Amber also starred in the telepic THE RUSSELL GIRL co-starring Tony award® winning actress Jennifer Ehle, for which she received rave reviews. Other film credits include Gore Verbinski's THE RING, Takashi Shimizu's THE GRUDGE 2 and Wim Wender's 10 MINUTES OLDER.

Amber started her professional career on GENERAL HOSPITAL at the age of 11, for which she received the Hollywood Reporter Young Star Award for Best Actress in A Daytime Series 2 years in a row. Amber is best known to some for two unforgettable seasons as the title character in "Joan of Arcadia," the highly lauded CBS family drama that earned her a 2004 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, as well as an Outstanding Drama Series nomination for the show. The series' first season earned Amber a 2003 Golden Globe nomination for Best Dramatic Actress in a Drama Series, and picked up the 2003 People's Choice award for Best New Series. On television, she was last seen as the female lead in ABC's "The Unusuals", which featured Amber as Detective Casey Shraeger, a smart cop who is also the black sheep of her wealthy family.

As an acclaimed writer, Amber recently published her second book of poems titled, “Bang Ditto,” out on Manic D. Press. At ages 14 and 17, Amber self published 2 chapbook collections of poetry, art, and photography entitled "Plenty Of Ships" and "Of The Dawn". In 2006, Amber signed with publisher Simon&Schuster to release her debut full length book of poetry, "Free Stallion,” which won the Borders Book Choice Award for 2006, for Breakout Writing. Her work has also been published in various newspapers and national magazines. Additionally, Amber is a co-founder of The Drums Inside Your Chest, a biannual event showcasing some of the best performance artists in the country, and also co-founded a nonprofit called Write Now Poetry Society, which raises funds for poetry programming. She has also recently collaborated on a documentary called "The Drums Inside Your Chest,” a performance poetry concert film that captures all of the humor, dirt, song and fire of seven award-winning young American poets (including Amber) during a special Los Angeles performance.

Amber was born and raised in Los Angeles, and currently resides in New York City.

Kate Mara was born and raised in Bedford, New York and began acting at age fourteen in local theater projects. At age fifteen Kate moved from the stage to her first film, RANDOM HEARTS (Dir. Sydney Pollack). She then went on to co-star in Gary Winick’s coming of age film TADPOLE.

Past film roles include BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (Dir. Ang Lee) portraying Heath Ledger’s daughter; TRANSSIBERIAN with Sir Ben Kingsley and Woody Harrelson (Dir. Brad Anderson); WE ARE MARSHALL with Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox (Dir. McG); SHOOTER with Mark Walhberg (Dir. Antoine Fuqua); STONE OF DESTINY with Charlie Cox (Dir: Charles Martin Smith) and THE OPEN ROAD with Justin Timberlake and Jeff Bridges (Dir. Michael Meredith).

In 2009, Kate filmed HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE with Josh Radnor and Malin Akerman (Dir. Josh Radnor), PEEP WORLD with Michael C. Hall, Sarah Silverman, Ben Schwartz and Rainn Wilson (Dir. Barry Blaustein), Iron Man 2 with Robert Downey Jr. (Dir. Jon Favreau), and Iron Clad with Paul Giamati and James Purefoy (Dir. Jonathan English).

HappyThankYouMorePlease premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival where it received the Audience Award. It had its New York premiere at the Gen Art Film Festival in April 2010 where it once again received the Audience Award for favorite film.

She has also appeared on numerous television shows, including arcs on 24 and most recently ENTOURAGE.

Clémence Poésy began her film career when she was cast as Magali, the raving daughter of Carole Bouquet and Andre Wilms, in Francis Palluau’s French comedy WELCOME TO ROSES (BIENVENUE CHEZ LES ROSES).  Since then, she has starred in films like Gillies MacKinnon’s GUNPOWDER, TREASON, AND PLOT, Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe’s LE GRAND MEAULNES, Ariel Zeitoun’s LE DERNIER GANG, Olivier Panchot’s SANS MOI, Eric Forestier’s LA TROISIÉME PARTIE DU MONDE, and in 2005, Poésy appeared for the first time as Fleur Delacour in Mike Newell’s HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE .  Most recently, Poésy was cast in Martin McDonagh’s IN BRUGES with Collin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes and Philip Ridley’s HEARTLESS with Jim Sturgess

In the past year, Poésy has reprised her role as Fluer Delacour in David Yates’s HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART I AND PART II and she was chosen to play the title character in Benoît Philippon’s Lullaby for Pi.

Poésy has also had a successful television career with roles in NBC’s REVELATIONS and the CW’s GOSSIP GIRL.

Kate Burton recently appeared on Broadway in the Tony Award wining musical SPRING AWAKENING. She received raves for the Williamston production of THE CORN IS GREEN directed by Nicholas Martin, starring opposite her son, Morgan Ritchie, and completed the City Center revival of APPLAUSE with Christine Ebersole. Kate was Tony nominated as the title character in THE CONSTANT WIFE for the Roundabout Theatre, directed by Mark Brokaw and appeared in THE WATER’S EDGE opposite Tony Goldwyn at the Second Stage Theatre. She appeared as Olga in the critically acclaimed West End production of THREE SISTERS with Kristen Scott Thomas, directed by Michael Blakemoore.

Kate received 2 Tony nominations in 2002 on Broadway for her title role in HEDDA GABLER, directed by Nicholas Martin, and for the role of Mrs. Kendall in THE ELEPHANT MAN, directed by Sean Mathias. Kate has also starred on Broadway in THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE (also UK/Ireland tour), AN AMERICAN DAUGHTER, JAKE'S WOMEN, SOME AMERICANS ABROAD (Drama Desk nomination) and PRESENT LAUGHTER (Theater World Award). She has appeared for thirteen seasons at Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Her film roles include: REMEMBER ME (Allen Coulter,) MAX PAYNE (John Moore), WHAT JUST HAPPENED (Barry Levinson), CELEBRITY (Woody Allen), THE ICE STORM (Ang Lee), FIRST WIVES’ CLUB (Hugh Wilson), AUGUST (Anthony Hopkins), BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (John Carpenter), UNFAITHFUL (Adrian Lynne), SWIMFAN (John Polson), STAY (Marc Forester), SHERRYBABY (Laurie Collyer), QUID PRO QUO (Carlos Brooks), THE KINGS OF APPLETON (Bobby Moresco) and the indie, CONSENT. Kate recently wrapped PUNCTURE for directors Adam and Mark Hassen. On television, she has had recurring roles on GREY’S ANATOMY (2 Emmy nominations), RESCUE ME and LAW AND ORDER, as well as many guest-starring roles.

Lizzy Caplan recently wrapped production on QUEENS OF COUNTRY, an independent comedy also starring Ron Livingston, about a girl from a small Arizona town who finds a lost iPod filled with songs that speak to her and is convinced that its owner is her soul mate.

In addition to her break-out role as 'Janice Ian' in MEAN GIRLS, Caplan's film credits include the following: HOT TUB TIME MACHINE, directed by Steve Pink and starring John Cusack and Rob Corddry; JJ Abrams's sci-fi hit CLOVERFIELD, MY BEST FRIEND'S GIRL opposite Kate Hudson; CROSSING OVER with Harrison Ford, Sean Penn and Ray Liotta; the independent drama LOVE IS THE DRUG; CRASHING with Campbell Scott; and THE LAST RITES OF RANSOM PRIDE with Scott Speedman, Jon Foster and Dwight Yoakam. She also produced and starred in the short film SUCCESSFUL ALCOHOLICS, which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

On television, Caplan recently starred as 'Casey Klein' on the critically-acclaimed comedy "Party Down" (AFI Award, 2009). She also received raves for her performance as 'Amy,' the vegan with a habit for vampire blood, on Alan Ball's award-winning HBO drama TRUE BLOOD.

Caplan's additional television credits include THE CLASS, for which she was named one of "10 Actors to Watch" by the Daily Variety, RELATED, FAMILY GUY, AMERICAN DAD, TRU CALLING, UNDECLARED and Judd Apatow's cult classic FREAKS AND GEEKS.

Caplan resides in her native Los Angeles.

Simon Beaufoy trained as a documentary director at Bournemouth Film School but became a screenwriter by accident after losing a lot of the BBC’s money on a documentary that never got shot. His screenwriting credits include the feature films THE FULL MONTY, AMONG GIANTS, THE DARKEST LIGHT, THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG and co-writer on MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY. His latest adaptation for the screen, SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN, is currently shooting.

He also wrote BURN UP, a two part thriller for the BBC about the politics of Climate Change and YASMIN for Channel 4. He previously collaborated with Danny Boyle and Christian Colson on the multi Academy Award winner, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.  He is currently writing a pilot, EMERGENCY SEX, for HBO and Executive Producer Russell Crowe.

Aron Ralston growing up in the Mid-West before moving to Colorado with his family in 1987, had little exposure to the wild outdoors. But by the time he set out for a hike in a remote area of Utah’s canyon country in April of 2003, he was already an experienced outdoorsman, mountaineer, and skier. Seven miles into the canyon that day, Aron accidentally dislodged a boulder that crushed and pinned his right hand. After six days of entrapment alone, he freed himself with a cheap multi-tool knife and hiked to a miraculous rescue. Since his accident, Aron has written a bestselling book, spoken to audiences in 200 cities around the world, and helped develop new prosthetic devices. With his adaptive creations, Aron has returned to his outdoor passions, including his landmark mountaineering project of climbing all 59 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot-high mountains, solo, in winter. In 2008, he made the first disabled ski descent of Denali, North America’s highest mountain, and a year ago, he became the first amputee to row a raft through the Grand Canyon. Today, Aron and his wife Jessica live in Boulder, Colorado, where they are raising their newborn son, Leo. Besides consulting on the major motion picture adaptation of his book, Aron advocates for Utah and Colorado wilderness.

Christian Colson is an Academy Award® winning film producer, and Chairman of the London based production company Cloud Eight Films.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1968 Christian graduated with a First Class Honours degree in English from Oxford University. In 1994 he began his film industry career at the talent agency London Management before becoming Head of Development UK for Harvey Weinstein's Miramax Films in 1998. Between 2002 and 2009 he was Managing Director of Celador Films where produced seven feature films including Neil Marshall's 2005 worldwide horror hit THE DESCENT and Danny Boyle's multiple Academy-Award winning SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, for which Christian received the Oscar for Best Picture of 2008.

In March 2009 Christian founded Cloud Eight Films. He is currently in pre-production on PRECIOUS director Lee Daniels' Civil Rights drama SELMA.

John Smithson is founder and Chief Creative Director of Darlow Smithson Productions (DSP), a leading London-based film and television production company.

The company has achieved global industry recognition for its groundbreaking factual output.

John Smithson has won more than 30 international awards for his work.

He produced TOUCHING THE VOID, (directed by Kevin Macdonald), which won the British Academy Award for Outstanding British Film and 14 other awards. It is the most successful British feature documentary in UK and US box-office history.

In television, an industry peer poll voted DSP one of the most admired and respected names in global non-fiction TV. John Smithson is responsible for the more than 50 hours of high quality factual programming DSP makes each year for many of the world’s leading broadcasters.

Recent work includes the acclaimed BBC/PBS mini-series THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK and landmark factual series INTO THE UNIVERSE WITH STEPHEN HAWKING (Discovery Channel).

Other recent credits include THE BECKONING SILENCE, winner of the 2008 International Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary and HBO documentary THRILLA IN MANILLA, winner of a 2010 George Foster Peabody Award.

Bernard Bellew started his film career, while still at school, working as a projectionist in a small independent cinema in Brighton, England.

He then began work on feature films as a production assistant and moved through the ranks to work as 2nd Assistant Director on numerous productions including MARY SHELLY’S FRANKENSTEIN, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, JUDGE DREDD, KUNDUN, STAR WARS – THE PHANTOM MENACE and NOTTING HILL.

His work as a production manager includes BAND OF BROTHERS, ABOUT A BOY and HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.  Line Producer and Co-Producer credits include BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON SUNSHINE and 28 WEEKS LATER.

John J. Kelly was born in Liverpool, England, and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. An early interest in the theater led John to the entertainment industry. He began his career at an independent production / distribution company, which produced ten films per year, as the Production Controller, then was quickly promoted through the ranks to the position of Unit Production Manager, Line Producer, and eventually, Head of Production. During this time John produced and supervised over seventy episodes of television, forty feature films, and numerous music videos for the studio. 


His credits include SPARTAN, TRISTAN & ISOLDE, THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN, THE BLACK DAHLIA, INTO THE WILD, GENTLEMEN BRONCOS and the forthcoming WARRIOR.

Francois Ivernel is a graduate of the prestigious Paris business school Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC). He joined the Finance Department of Chargeurs in 1986. Subsequently, Chargeurs acquired Pathé and, in 1994, Ivernel began his move into film production, becoming Managing Director of Pathé Image in 1998. He was appointed Managing Director of Pathé UK in June 2000. Since then, he has led the Pathé UK team to become a sustainable and profitable company with productions and acquisitions including GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS, THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY, VOLVER, BAFTA & Academy Award winning THE QUEEN, THE DUCHESS, BRIGHT STAR and eight time Academy Award winning SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

Cameron McCracken is Managing Director of Pathé UK, Cameron McCracken is a member of the British Screen Advisory Council, the British Council Film Committee and a director of Screen Yorkshire.

Prior to his appointment at Pathé 8 years ago, Cameron was Director of Business Affairs at the pre-cursor of the UK Film Council - British Screen Finance Limited - from 1997 to 2000.

Cameron read Law at Balliol College, Oxford University and worked as a film lawyer for 9 years in London, Paris and Rome before establishing himself as an independent producer.

Cameron has co-produced or executive produced over 25 films including GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING directed by Peter Weber, Stephen Frears’ Academy Award winner THE QUEEN and Danny Boyle’s eight time Academy Award winner SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

Lisa Maria Falcone founded Everest Entertainment in 2008 to develop high quality content based on strong writing, complex characters and meaningful subjects. Everest’s other uniqueness lies in their commitment to donate a portion of proceeds to philanthropic causes consistent with the themes of its work. The company’s first feature film was Rodrigo Garcia’s MOTHER AND CHILD.

Born and raised in New York City’s Spanish Harlem, Lisa has always been passionate about the creative arts, despite her lack of opportunities to pursue these interests while growing up. For that reason Lisa, who received her college education in Fine Arts, is especially interested in finding and showcasing talent that might otherwise not be discovered. Her unique path in life has led her to seek out and support those with creative vision, passion and dedication. Well known for her philanthropic work, Lisa sits on the Board of the New York City Ballet & the Diller-Quaille School of Music, served as Chairwoman of numerous galas, including the Museum of Natural History, and acts as a major donor and advocate for ‘Friends of the High Line’, the organization dedicated to developing New York’s first elevated public park.

Tessa Ross is Controller of Film and Drama at Channel 4. She was initially appointed Head of Film4 in December 2002 and in November 2004 her role was expanded to include Drama.

Channel 4’s film department has built a reputation for developing and financing films such as Danny Boyle’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, which has won multiple awards including eight Oscars®, four Golden Globes, seven BAFTAs and a BIFA for Best Film, Oscar-winning THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, BAFTA winning THIS IS ENGLAND, Steve McQueen’s HUNGER, which won the Camera d’Or at Cannes, three BIFAs and BAFTA’s Carl Foreman Award, THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, TOUCHING THE VOID and THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO. 

Recent Film4 releases include Martin McDonagh’s Golden Globe and BAFTA winning IN BRUGES, Mike Leigh’s Golden Globe-winning HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, Bob Weide’s HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE, Sarah Gavron’s BRICK LANE, Chris Morris’ FOUR LIONS, Ken Loach's LOOKING FOR ERIC, Paul King’s BUNNY AND THE BULL , Sam Taylor-Wood's NOWHERE BOY, and Peter Jackson’s THE LOVELY BONES.  Other upcoming films include Kevin Macdonald's THE EAGLE, Mike Leigh’s ANOTHER YEAR, Mark Romanek’s NEVER LET ME GO, Danny Boyle’s 127 HOURS, Lone Scherfig’s ONE DAY, and Richard Ayoade’s SUBMARINE.

During her earlier stewardship of Channel 4 Drama, Ross successfully innovated the strategy that has cemented a drama reputation based on risk and innovation. Pieces commissioned during that time include “Shameless,” “Teachers,” “Not Only But Always,” “Bodily Harm,” “White Teeth,” “No Angels,” “The Navigators,” “Buried,” “Forty” and “Second Generation.”

Other drama highlights commissioned by Ross include Peter Flannery’s Civil War drama “The Devil’s Whore,” “Longford” starring Jim Broadbent and Samantha Morton, “Elizabeth I” starring Helen Mirren, BAFTA award-winning “Sex Traffic” and Pete Travis’ “Omagh” amongst many others. Tessa came to Channel 4 from the BBC’s Independent Commissioning Group where she was Head of Drama, where Drama and film she commissioned and executive produced for the BBC includes BILLY ELLIOT, CLOCKING OFF, HEARTS AND BONES, IN A LAND OF PLENTY, TALKING HEADS II, LIAM, PLAYING THE FIELD, BIRTHS MARRIAGES AND DEATHS to name a selection.

Tessa was an external examiner for the MA in Screenwriting at the Northern Film School and is now a governor of the National Film and Television School, a governor at the BFI, an honorary associate of the London Film School and a member of the ICA board. Tessa was appointed CBE in the New Year 2010 Honors List.

Anthony Dod Mantle B.S.C., D.F.F. won an Academy Award for his work on SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. He also collaborated with Danny Boyle on 28 DAYS LATER, which earned Mantle the European Cinematographer Awards, and on MILLIONS. He also won the European Cinematographer Awards for the second time last year for Lars Von Trier’s ANTICHRIST and Boyle's SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

Mantle has worked all over the world on numerous critically acclaimed films including THE CELEBRATION, ANTICHRIST, JULIEN DONKEY BOY, DOGVILLE, MANDERLAY, BROTHERS OF THE HEAD and THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, which garnered 34 awards internationally, including a BIFA for Best Technical Achievement in cinematography. He reunites with THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND director Kevin MacDonald on the forthcoming THE EAGLE, set in Roman-ruled Britain.

In 1999, Daily Variety named Enrique Chediak one of "10 Cinematographers to Watch," and he hasn't disappointed. His film credits include CHARLIE ST. CLOUD, starring Zac Efron; REPO MEN, starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker; 28 WEEKS LATER; THE FLOCK, starring Richard Gere and Claire Danes; DOWN IN THE VALLEY, starring Edward Norton; TURISTAS; LIES AND ALIBIS; CRONICAS; A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD; and UNDEFEATED for HBO, which Chediak also executive produced. Prior to this, he shot BROWN SUGAR; THE GOOD GIRL, which premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival; THE SAFETY OF OBJECTS; SONGCATCHER; BOILER ROOM; and THE FACULTY, directed by Robert Rodriguez.

Chediak won the 1997 Sundance Film Festival's Best Cinematographer Award for HURRICANE STREETS. His feature film debut was AMERICAN SOUTHERN directed John Joshua Clayton. Born in Quito, Ecuador, Chediak studied still photography in Madrid and communications in Santiago, Chile, before entering New York University's Film School graduate program in 1992, where he won the Best Cinematography award at NYU's First Run Film Festival.

Suttirat Larlarb works as a designer for film and theatre and previously was the costume designer for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and for Danny Boyle’s SUNSHINE. Her most recent costume work includes THE AMERICAN starring George Clooney, as well as the comedy THE EXTRA MAN, the thriller PEACOCK and the New York fantasy-romance BEASTLY.

As an Art Director, her credits include THE SAVAGES, THE NAMESAKE, MY SASSY GIRL, THE SKELETON KEY, ALFIE GARFIELD and K-PAX. Other credits include MEN IN BLACK II, ENIGMA and THE BEACH. Her Production Design credits for film include ASH TUESDAY, A FOREIGN AFFAIR and GUNPLAY. Suttirat grew up in Los Angeles, has lived in both San Francisco and London and is now based in New York City.

Jon Harris’ (Editor) feature film credits include EDEN LAKE, STARTER FOR 10, SNATCH, THE CALCIUM KID, DOT THE I and RIPLEY’S GAME. KICK-ASS marks Jon’s third collaboration with Matthew Vaughn, having previously worked on LAYER CAKE and STARDUST. Jon won the Best Technical Achievement trophy for THE DESCENT at the 2005 British Independent Film Awards and went on to direct and edit THE DESCENT: PART 2.

A two-time Academy Award winner, A. R. Rahman is popularly known as the man who has redefined contemporary Indian music. Hailed by Time magazine as the “Mozart of Madras',” Rahman, according to a BBC estimate, has sold more than 150 million copies of his work comprising of music from more than 100 film soundtracks and albums across over half a dozen languages, including landmark scores such as ROJA, BOMBAY, DIL SE, TAAL, LAGAAN, VANDEMATARAM and more recently, JODHAA AKBAR, DELHI 6 and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

Rahman pursued music as a career at a very young age and after assisting leading musicians in India went on to compose jingles and scores for popular Indian television features. He also obtained a degree in western classical music from the Trinity College of Music, London and set up his own in-house studio called Panchathan Record-Inn at Chennai. In 1991, noted film maker Mani Ratnam offered Rahman a movie called ROJA, which was a run-away success and brought nationwide fame and acclaim to the composer. The movie also won Rahman the Indian National Award for the best music composer, the first time ever by a debutant. Since then, Rahman has gone on to win the National Award 3 more times, the most ever by any music composer.

In 1997, to commemorate 50 years of Indian Independence, Sony Music signed up Rahman as its first artiste in South Asia. The result was “Vande Mataram,” an album that instantly made Indians relate to it and succeeded in rekindling the spirit of patriotism. In 2001, Andrew Lloyd Webber invited Rahman to compose for his musical, BOMBAY DREAMS, the first time he would produce a musical he did not compose. BOMBAY DREAMS opened to packed houses at London's West End and had an unprecedented run for 2 years and later premiered on Broadway. Rahman recently composed the score for the stage production of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, one of the most expensive productions mounted on stage.

Rahman has undertaken several sellout concert tours in over 30 international destinations including one at the prestigious Hollywood Bowl in 2006. Recently, Time magazine rated the soundtrack of ROJA in the Top 10 of their all time best movie soundtracks of the world; The Guardian, UK, listed the soundtrack of BOMBAY in “1000 Albums to Listen To Before You Die.” Rahman's music led him to be noticed internationally with several of his tracks featuring in movies such as THE LORD OF WAR, INSIDE MAN and THE ACCIDENTAL HUSBAND. His composition, “Bombay Theme,” holds the distinction of being featured in over 50 international compilations. He also scored the music for the Hollywood productions, ELIZABETH - THE GOLDEN AGE, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, COUPLES RETREAT and the Chinese movie, WARRIORS OF HEAVEN & EARTH produced by Sony Pictures.

In 2008, Rahman's work gained global prominence with the extraordinary success of his score for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE that won 8 Academy Awards including two for Rahman, for Best Score and Best Song. Rahman won over 15 awards for his score including two Grammys, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA.

Rahman has been bestowed with the Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, two of India's highest national civilian honours, recognizing his contribution to music, in addition to several other awards including 4 Indian National Film Awards and 25 Filmfare Awards, India's leading recognition for films. He has also been conferred with honorary doctorates from the Trinity College of Music, Aligarh Muslim University, Anna University and the Middlesex University. He was also named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2009.

Rahman has expanded his focus to newer horizons like setting up the A R Rahman Foundation to help poor and underprivileged children. He released his first English single, 'Pray For Me Brother' in 2007, with proceeds from the sales going to the foundation. He also serves as the UN Ambassador for the 2015 Millenium Development Goals. Rahman has also announced initiatives to establish a tradition in western classical music in India and recently embarked on an ambitious venture to set up the KM Music Conservatory and the KM Music Symphony Orchestra based out of Chennai, India. He plans to provide a platform for non-mainstream music through his music label KM Musiq and will shortly launch a couple of artistes.

His recent films include ENDHIRAN, PAANI and 1-800-LOVE.