(b.1951 or 1949, he keeps his exact birthdate secret, in Cazalda de Calatrava) moved to Madrid at age 18 and quickly became drawn into the Spanish capital's underground scene.

Here he also started making short movies with a Super 8 camera and so came into contact with some of the key figures who would shape Madrid's "Movida" - a short but intense outburst of optimism and creative frenzy. Finally he managed to scrape together enough funding for his first full-length feature film, Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón, released in 1980, which already bore the unmistakable Almodóvar hallmarks.

Almodóvar's position as the leading figure in Spain's new generation of film-makers was made with the films that followed: Laberinto de Pasiones ("Labyrinth of Passions", '82); Entre Tinieblas ("Dark Habits", '83) and his first big hit, ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? ("What have I done to deserve this?"), released in 1985. Almodóvar received an Oscar nomination for best non-English language film and international recognition with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown but he eventually won the Oscar with his acclaimed Todo Sobre Mi Madre ("All About My Mother"), chosen as Best Foreign Film in the March 2000 edition of the Academy Awards. Its success also brought ever more tempting offers from Hollywood. In the end, however, Almodóvar decided to stick to Spain and Europe for his next film.

Almodóvar has two finished scripts, both written by himself, called Habla Con Ella and La Mala Educacion, the latter set in a boys' school runs by priests during the Franco era (a subject the director is familiar with). Habla Con Ella is currently his most recent feature.