Sam Raimi

Born in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, Sam Raimi began making movies with Bruce Campbell and some other friends when they were in their teens. The two would continue to collaborate repeatedly over the span of their careers. Raimi attended Michigan State University, but dropped out to make "The Evil Dead" (1981), starring Campbell. The film proved to be the beginning of a partnership with Robert Tapert (a roommate of Raimi's older brother) as a producer. Featuring Raimi's trademark kinetic camerawork, "The Evil Dead" would become a cult phenomenon and spawn a series of films as well as a reboot and a TV series. In 1994, Raimi created his first TV series. "M.A.N.T.I.S." (Fox, 1994-95), about a paralyzed doctor who becomes a superhero when assisted by a powered exoskeleton, was envisioned as a filmed comic book, but didn't make an impression with audiences and was cancelled after one season. The next year he created the hit show "Xena: Warrior Princess" (Syndication, 1995-2001). Raimi also continued to direct a variety of studio films including the critically acclaimed "A Simple Plan" (1998) and baseball film "For Love of the Game" (1999). He returned to fully embrace his inner comic book geek when he directed the blockbuster "Spider-Man" (2002), which became the first film to gross over $100 million in a single weekend. Raimi directed the next two films of his "Spider-Man" trilogy, then returned to the horror genre with "Drag Me to Hell" (2009). Although a prolific producer of television, Raimi didn't direct any until 2014, when he helmed the pilot for "Rake" (Fox, 2014) starring Greg Kinnear. In 2015, he directed the pilot for "Ash vs. Evil Dead" (Starz, 2015-18), Executive Producing with Robert Tapert, and starring Bruce Campbell.