Paul W.S. Anderson

Paul W. S. Anderson
Anderson at WonderCon 2012
Born	Paul William Scott Anderson (1965-03-04) 4 March 1965 (age 51) Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Citizenship	British
Occupation	Film director, producer, and screenwriter
Spouse(s)	Milla Jovovich (2009–present)
Children	2

Paul William Scott Anderson (born 4 March 1965) is an English film director, producer, and screenwriter who regularly works in science fiction movies and video game adaptations. He is known for poorly received but commercially successful works such as the Resident Evil film series starring his wife Milla Jovovich, Mortal Kombat, Alien vs. Predator, and Death Race.

Anderson was born in Wallsend, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. Educated at Newlands Preparatory School, Gosforth and later at Newcastle's Royal Grammar School, Anderson went on to graduate from the University of Warwick with a B.A. in film and literature.

Anderson made his debut as the writer-director of Shopping, which starred Sean Pertwee, Jude Law and Sadie Frost as thieves who smashed cars into storefronts. When released in the United Kingdom it was banned in some cinemas, and only gained a release in the United States as an edited, direct to video release. Anderson along with Uwe Boll is often considered in the conversation as the least critically successful working directors in Hollywood both in blog posts and in mainstream press articles. MetaCritic lists him as 13th worst rated director overall.

After this, he directed the 1995 video game adaptation Mortal Kombat. While prior video game movies, like Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter, had been all-out disasters, Mortal Kombat was well received by fans and some critics. He declined to direct the sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which was not well received by critics or fans. Anderson was asked to direct a third film, Mortal Kombat: Devastation, but declined again because he was too busy filming Resident Evil.