Born in New York City in 1969 and grew up in Queens. He attended the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television. He made his directorial debut in 1994 with Little Odessa, which received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. After that he directed The Yards (2000), We Own the Night (2007), Two Lovers (2008) and The Immigrant (2013), all of them presented at the main competition at Cannes. He also made The Lost City of Z (2016) and Ad Astra (2019).
