Sam Raimi

Samuel M "Sam" Raimi (; born October 23, 1959) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor, famous for creating the cult horror Evil Dead series, as well as directing the original Spider-Man trilogy (2002–07) and the 1990 superhero film Darkman. His most recent work is the 2013 Disney fantasy film Oz the Great and Powerful. Raimi has also produced several successful television series and founded his own production company, Renaissance Pictures, in 1979. Recently, he worked as the producer of The Possession, and the 2013 remake of Evil Dead. 2Early life Raimi was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, to a Conservative Jewish family. His ancestors were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Hungary. Raimi is the fourth of five children born to Celia Barbara (née Abrams) and Leonard Ronald Raimi, and he grew up in Birmingham, Michigan. Raimi graduated from Groves High School and later went on to attend Michigan State University, where he majored in English but left after three semesters to film The Evil Dead. 2Film Raimi became fascinated with making films when his father brought a movie camera home one day and he began to make Super 8 movies with childhood friend Bruce Campbell. In college, he teamed up with his brother's roommate Robert Tapert and Campbell to shoot Within the Woods (1978), a 32-minute horror film which raised $375,000, as well as his debut feature film It's Murder