Raised in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York

After high school, moved to Israel to live on a kibbutz

Senior thesis film "Supermarket Sweep" was a national finalist in the Student Academy Awards

Moved to Los Angeles to study at the American Film Institute

Feature directing and screenwriting debut, "Pi"

Inked deal to script and direct a feature based on the comic book "Ronin" (not to be confused with 1998 feature of the same name)

Selected to participate in Sundance Screenwriters Lab, working on the script "Requiem for a Dream"

Wrote and directed "Requiem for a Dream" (adapted from the novel by Hubert Selby Jr); screened at Cannes

Re-wrote the film "The Fountain," from a $75 million epic to a $30 million film and released it in 2006, starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz

Directed the well received, "The Wrestler," about professional wrestler Randy 'The Ram' Robinson (played by Mickey Rourke)