Eli Roth began shooting super 8 films at the age of eight, after watching Ridley Scott's "Alien," and deciding he wanted to be a producer/director. Roth made over 50 short films with his brothers and friends before attending film school at N.Y.U., where he won a student Academy Award and graduated Suma Cum Laude in 1994. He worked in film and theater production in New York City for many years, doing every job from production assistant to assistant editor to assistant to the director. By the age of 20 Roth was development head for producer Fred Zollo, and eventually left to write full time. To earn his living, Roth did budgets and schedules for such films as "A Price Above Rubies" and "Illuminata," and often worked as a stand-in, where he could watch the director work with the actors. In 1995, Roth co-wrote "Cabin Fever" with friend Randy Pearlstein, and the two spent many years unsuccessfully trying to get the film financed. Roth left New York in 1999 to live in Los Angeles, and within four months got funding for his animation series "Chowdheads." Roth and friend Noah Belson (Cabin Fever's "Guitar Man") wrote and voiced the episodes, which Roth produced, directed and designed. The episodes were due to run on W.C.W.'s #1 rated series "Monday Nitro," but the C.E.O. was fired a day before they were scheduled to air, and the episodes never ran. Roth used the episodes to set up a stop motion series called "The Rotten Fruit," which he produced, directed and animated, as well as co-wrote and voiced with friend Noah Belson. Between the two animated series, Roth worked closely with director David Lynch, producing content for the website davidlynch.com. In 2001, Roth filmed "Cabin Fever" for a shoestring budget of $1.5 million, with private equity he and his producers raised from friends and family. The film was the subject of a bidding war at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival, eventually going to Lion's Gate, instantly doubling the "Cabin Fever" investors' money. "Cabin Fever" went on to not only be the highest grossing film for Lion's Gate in 2003, but the most profitable horror film released that year, garnering critical acclaim from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Empire Magazine, and such filmmakers as Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, and Tobe Hooper. Roth used the "Cabn Fever"'s success to launch a slew of projects, including "Scavenger Hunt," a teen comedy he will write and direct for Universal Studios, and "The Box," a horror thriller he is co-writing with Richard Kelly that Roth will direct. In May of 2003, Roth joined forces with filmmakers Boaz Yakin, Scott Spiegel, and Greenestreet Films in New York to form Raw Nerve, LLC, a new production company that will produce 3-5 intense, scary, lower budget horror films annually.
Won a Student Academy Award in 1995 for his N.Y.U. thesis film "Restaurant Dogs." Spent 6 years researching a project for director David Lynch and composer Angelo Badalamenti that will be written for Broadway. Got his idea for Cabin Fever when he was in Iceland and contracted a lesser case of the flesh-eating disease. The now infamous shaving-legs scene in the bath tub is based on when Roth shaved his face and layers of skin came off while having the disease. Was the inspiration for the character Eli, the aspiring porn director, in the film The Girl Next Door. One of the writers was friends with Cabin Fever editor Ryan Folsey, and spent time in the editing room, secretly writing down everything Roth was saying. Roth found out about this when several actors he knew auditioned for the film, and told him there was a character named Eli who spoke exactly like him. Roth confirmed this with the writer, who was promptly kicked out of the editing room. Is friends with director Chloe (aka Chloe Nichole, who directed the "Cabin Fever" X-rated parody Sex Fever. Chloe had visited the Cabin Fever set during shooting, and then directed the sexy spoof without telling Roth. In Sex Fever, Chloe spoofed Roth's character Justin, making her director's cameo as a lost hiker, just as Roth did in Cabin Fever. Roth was flattered she made the film, but was disappointed he was not invited to visit her set in return. Suffers from Psoriasis, a genetic, non-contagious skin disorder, which can have crippling effects. When Roth suffered his first attack at age 22, his skin was cracked and bleeding so badly that he could not walk or wear clothes. He based many of the events in "Cabin Fever" on his own skin-curdling experiences. Paid for his student films by working as an on-line sex operator for Penthouse Magazine, back when only doctors and scientists were on the internet. Subscribers paid $30 an hour to have sex with Roth and his N.Y.U. friends, thinking they were gorgeous Penthouse models. Roth claims that these experiences inspire many of the characters he writes today. Quentin Tarantino calls him "the future of horror," and praised his work in the May 2004 issue of Premiere Magazine. Is a huge fan of Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen. While filming Cabin Fever, Roth played the Olsen Twins's film Holiday in the Sun on a continuous loop in a screening room, to give the cast and crew "artistic inspiration." When he worked as a production assistant for Howard Stern on the set of Private Parts, he worked the late shift from about 11pm to 7am. During this time he spent rewriting and reworking the Cabin Fever script because he says it was "problematic" at best. Brother of Adam J. Roth and Gabriel Roth Son of Dr. Sheldon Roth and Cora Roth Shared nearly all the profits from the enormously successful _Cabin Fever (2002)_ with his cast and crew members, who took very little pay up front in order to get the film made. Shares the exact same birthday as fellow director and friend Edgar Wright. Does incredible voice impressions, and will often entertain his cast and crew during long camera setups with imitations of everyone working on his film. Was fired by director Martin Brest on Meet Joe Black for being an "untalented stand-in." Roth later worked on the film as a production assistant, but was hidden from the director and put in the basement of the studio, where he turned the air conditioning on and off between takes. Does not take the "film by" or "an Eli Roth film" credit because he believes that people should be able to distinguish your work from the film itself, not the opening titles or poster. He believes filmmaking is a collaborative process, and feels the credit disrespects the people who brought their own creativity to the project. Owns an Icelandic horse named Bara, who he keeps on the horse farm in Selfoss, Iceland, where he lived when he was 19. This is the same farm where he contracted the skin infection that gave him the idea for Cabin Fever. His father Dr. Sheldon Roth is a world renowned psychiatrist/psychoanalyst and a professor at the Harvard University medical school. His mother Cora Roth is a painter who shows her work at the O.K. Harris gallery in New York City. Was originally approached to be the voice of the computer trivia game "You Don't Know Jack," but turned it down to write Cabin Fever. Spends every summer at Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York. Roth claims that the beautiful old hotel, built in 1869, is a continued source of inspiration for scary ideas. Other guests of the mountain house include Roth's favorite writer Stephen King. Cannot stand the sight of real blood, saying it makes him sick to his stomach. Movie blood, however, has no effect on him. Is an expert on the relatively unknown scientist Nikola Tesla. Roth owns copies of every known letter Tesla ever wrote, including rare letters to Tesla's family and to financiers when his projects fell apart. Roth shares similar obsessive compulsive disorders that Tesla had, and has said he feels a strange connection to the forgotten scientist. Is deathly allergic to cats, and cannot be in the same house as them. Member of "The Splat Pack," a term coined by film historian Alan Jones in Total Film magazine for the modern wave of directors making brutally violent horror films. The other "Splat Pack" members are Alexandre Aja, Darren Lynn Bousman, Neil Marshall, Greg McLean, James Wan & Rob Zombie. The total combined production budget of Eli Roth's first two films is $6 million dollars. The total worldwide theatrical gross of Eli Roth's first two films is well over $100 million dollars. With DVD sales and rentals, the total revenue generated by Eli Roth's first two films is over $200 million dollars. (Source: boxofficemojo.com) Was voted "Most Fit Director" in the June/July 2006 issue of Men's Fitness magazine, which ranked the "25 Fittest Guys" in various professions. Was voted by fans into the Fangoria Magazine Hall of Fame in June 2006 after directing only two films, the fastest of any director ever to receive that honor. Is red/brown and blue/black color blind in low light. Writes all of his scripts long hand, a practice he started on the advice of Quentin Tarantino. Roth writes in a handwriting so illegible that only he can read it in case he loses his notebook.