Shane Black
Shane Black (born December 16, 1961) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. He wrote such late 1980s and early 1990s action movie hits as Lethal Weapon (1987) and made his directorial debut with the film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005). His acting credits include Predator (1987).
In 2013, he co-wrote and directed Iron Man 3, which currently ranks as the tenth highest grossing film of all time worldwide (unadjusted for inflation).
Early life
Black was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Paul and Patricia Ann Black. His father was in the printing business, and helped Black get an interest in hardboiled fiction, such as the works of Mickey Spillane and the Matt Helm series.
After living in the suburbs of Lower Burrell and Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, his family moved to Fullerton, California, during his sophomore year of high school. There he attended Sunny Hills High School and later attended UCLA where he majored in film and theater. While Black had a long history writing, doing comic strips, short stories, and journalism, only during his senior year he decided to make a living out of it, once his classmate Fred Dekker showed him a science fiction script he did for an assignment. Black's older brother Terry also wrote short stories and decided to move into screenplays starting with 1988's Dead Heat.