Raised in Franklin, Michigan

Given 8mm movie camera by father as a child; made numerous amateur short films

Met future collaborators Bruce Campbell, Scott Spiegel and John Cameron in junior high school

Founded and served as president of Michigan State University Society for Creative Filmmaking

With college roommate Robert Tapert and childhood buddy Bruce Campbell co-founded Renaissance Motion Pictures in Ferndale, Michigan; served as vice president

Directed and co-wrote the short, "Within the Woods", served as a precursor to "The Evil Dead"

Wrote and directed first feature, "The Evil Dead" (released in 1983)

First film appearance, in "Spies Like Us"

Feature producing debut, executive produced sequel "Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn" (also directed and co-scripted with Scott Spiegel)

Served as an executive producer on "Easy Wheels", a direct-to-video action comedy; also reportedly co-wrote screenplay under a pseudonym

First studio feature, directed, wrote story and co-scripted (with Chuck Pfarrer, Ivan Raimi, Daniel Goldin, and Joshua Goldin) "Darkman"

TV acting debut, appeared in "Journey to the Center of the Earth", an unsold TV-movie pilot

First relatively substantial film supporting role, played flunky of camp director Alan Arkin in "Indian Summer"

Served as an executive producer on the Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle "Hard Target"; marked the US directorial debut of celebrated Hong Kong director John Woo

Debut as a TV producer, creator and writer, executive produced, created and provided story for "Mantis", a Fox superhero TV-movie pilot (also acted uncredited)

Collaborated with Van Damme again as the executive producer of "Timecop"

Executive produced the syndicated TV-movie "Hercules and the Amazon Women", the first in a series of five telefilms produced under the umbrella title "The Legendary Journeys of Hercules" as part of the "Action Pack" series

TV miniseries acting debut, played Bobby Terry, hapless bad guy in ABC's "Stephen King's 'The Stand'"

TV series debut, created and executive produced "M.A.N.T.I.S." a Fox superhero series with a black protagonist

First feature assignment as a director without also scripting and first "big" budget production ($30 million) the parodic Western "The Quick and the Dead", starring Sharon Stone

Executive produced the immensely popular syndicated action fantasy series "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys"

Credited as executive producer and "based on characters by" for "Darkman II: The Return of Durant", a direct-to-video sequel; received the same credits on the subsequent video sequel "Darkman III: Die Darkman Die" (1996)

Executive produced the hugely successful syndicated spin-off series "Xena: Warrior Princess"

Executive produced the cultish supernatural drama series "American Gothic"

Executive produced the spin-off Fox series "Young Hercules"

Returned to features as director of "A Simple Plan"

Helmed the Kevin Costner baseball-themed "For the Love of the Game"

Directed the thriller "The Gift" with Cate Blanchett playing a psychic who becomes embroiled in a local murder

Helmed the feature version of the Marvel comic "Spider-Man", with Tobey Maguire in the lead

Returned to direct the second installment of "Spider-Man 2"

Will direct Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco in the third installment of "Spider-Man 3" (lensed 2006)