Jim Jarmusch was born on January 22, 1953, in Akron, Ohio.
He graduated from Cayahoga Falls High School in 1971, and went directly to Northwestern University that summer.
He majored in Journalism, and studied for a year.
He then changed his major to English Literature, and went to study abroad in Paris.
While there, he fell in love with the style of the French Cinema, and decided to stay a whole year. When he returned from Paris, He transferred to Columbia University where he received a B.A. in English Literature. But the images from the Parisian cinemas still haunted him, and Jim, at last, took his first steps toward destiny, and transferred to the Tisch School of the arts, in New York City, to study film.
While in New York, he got a job as a teacher's assistant to Rebel Without a Cause director Nicholas Ray in a director's workshop at NYU. Ray and Jarmusch became close friends. Ray later helped Jarmusch with his first feature length film, the 16mm Permanent Vacation, Which was highly acclaimed by critics.
Jarmusch expanded his graduation project, the 30-minute short film, New World into the feature lenght film, Stranger Than Paradise, Which won the CAMERA D'OR-for best new director at the Cannes Film Festival. Jarmusch followed that film with another of the same style, Down By Law, making what Jarmusch considers a trilogy, because of their similar style and their representation of American Pop/Trash Culture through the eyes of a Foreigner. In 1987 Jarmusch won the BEST ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION PRIZE at Cannes, for Mystery Train."
Jarmusch writes all ofhis own scripts, and occasionally plays bit parts in the films of other directors. His work is amazingly original and innovative in a medium that sometimes seems tapped of new ideas. Among a wave of new "Indie" directors, Jarmusch shows a unique perspective and talent that raises the bar for all others.
