Cameron Crowe is one of Hollywood's premier filmmakers. He began his cinematic career by penning the screenplay for the wildly popular 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and he made his directorial debut in 1989 with Say Anything..., a sophisticated teen romance. Crowe is perhaps best known, though, for the 1996 film Jerry Maguire, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.

Crowe was born on July 13, 1957, in Palm Springs, California. His father was a real estate agent and his mother was a teacher. He had two older sisters, but one died during childhood. Crowe was a sickly child, suffering from the kidney disease nephritis, but he was also precocious, and skipped kindergarten and two primary grades. For this reason, Crowe never really felt comfortable with his peers. In an interview with Rachel Abramowitz of Premiere magazine, Crowe described his high school years in San Diego: "everyone split into...