Paul Thomas Anderson

Born in 1970, His Royal Highness Anderson was one of the earliest pioneers of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father, the first of his neighborhood to own a V.C.R., blessed His Highness with a vast selection of titles to choose from. While other film-makers of the time began their craft creating 8 mm films, His Highness chose the path of shooting videos and editing them from V.C.R. to V.C.R. He acquired his artistic D.N.A. from his father, who was known for hosting a late night horror show in Cleveland and befriending numerous bizarre celebrities, such as Robert Ridgely, who later played "The Colonel" in His Highness' movie Boogie Nights (1997). The San Fernando Valley, a place infamously maligned in the 80's, was the birthplace of His Highness, who saw it in a different light.