Jim Jarmusch

Jarmusch is very discreet about his private life. His long-term relationship with filmmaker Sara Driver is the only thing known to the public pertaining to his personal life. The couple stayed together for many years before ending their relationship.

Jarmusch was born in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio into a family with modest background. Jarmusch was introduced to the world of cinema by his mother, who was once a film and theatre reviewer. He saw the first adult film in 1958, when he was just five.

Encouraged by his grandmother, he read a lot of books and showed great interest in literature, which later helped him shape his literary skills.

He graduated from high school in 1971, after which he moved to Chicago to study at the Medill School of Journalism. However, his lack of interest in studies was not accepted by the school authority and he was asked to leave. Owing to his interest in literature and history, he decided to transfer to Columbia University where he studied his desired subjects.

In his new university, he was acquainted with English and American literature and soon he was editing ‘The Columbia Review’, a college journal. In 1975, he graduated from Columbia, after completing a summer exchange program in Paris. In 1976, he applied to the film school ‘Tisch School of the Arts’ in New York and entered on the basis of his photography skills and an essay he had written about filmmaking.

He worked as an assistant to renowned film director Nicholas Ray, who offered him to work on his documentary ‘Lightning Over Water’. However, owing some issues related to funding of the project, the university did not give him a degree.

In 1980, he made his first feature film ‘Permanent Vacation’. Though it did not please the critics or the audience, it definitely caught their attention.

His next movie was in 1984, ‘Stranger Than Paradise’ which was well received and won a number of awards. It was followed by the 1986 movie ‘Down by Law’ in which he introduced Italian comedian Roberto Benigni to the American audience.

In 1989, came ‘Mystery Train’ and in 1991 he made ‘Night on Earth’. By now, Jarmusch had gained small but strong fan-following in America and was seen as a cult figure in Europe and Japan.

He released ‘Dead Man’ in 1995 which starred famous actors like Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer. The film was not much appreciated in America, but was well-received internationally.

In 1999, he released one of his major works ‘Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai’, a crime action film and after a break for some time he released ‘Coffee and Cigarettes’ in 2003.

His 1984 film ‘Stranger Than Paradise’, had a huge impact on the independent cinema and is considered one of his best early works. The movie was made with a modest budget of US$100,000 but earned an impressive $2,436,000 at box-office.

‘Dead Man’ which was released in 1995 was considered by some critics as the best movie of the later part of the 20th century. The movie earned $1,025,488 at the box office and also entered the Cannes Film Festival in that year.

His next big movie was ‘Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai’ in 1999 which made $9,380,473 at the box office.

In 2003, he made ‘Coffee and Cigarettes’ which included eleven short stories with coffee and cigarettes being an integral part of the movie. The film had an overall collection of $7,929,307 at the box-office.