Director and filmmaker was born on June 20, 1968, in San Antonio, Texas. As a part of a large family, Rodriguez began by making short films, which often featured some of his nine siblings. Initially rejected from film school, Rodriguez continued making movies. He won several awards for his efforts and was eventually accepted into the film program at the University of Texas at Austin.
He made his first feature film El Mariachi (1993) on a very tight budget—only $7,000. Some of the money came from his work as a human guinea pig to test a new medication. Playing on …show more content…
His next project was his first major production. Desperado (1995), another action film, starred Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas. Rodriguez then brought an element of the supernatural to his southwestern-set films with From Dusk to Dawn. The story focuses on two brothers - played by George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino—fighting off vampires while stuck in a small border town. Rodriguez revisited El Mariachi territory with the sequel Once Upon A Time in Mexico (2003).
Around this time, Rodriguez and his wife Elizabeth Avellan started their production facility—now known as Troublemaker Studios—near Austin, Texas. Over the years, he has chosen to work near his home, far away from the Hollywood