  brian russell de palma (born september 11, 1940) is an american film director and screenwriter. in a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films. he directed successful and popular films such as carrie, dressed to kill, scarface, the untouchables, carlito's way, and mission: impossible. ==early life== de palma, who is of italian ancestry, was born in newark, new jersey, the son of vivienne (nÃ©e muti) and anthony federico de palma, an orthopedic surgeon."brian de palma biography (1940â)". film reference. retrieved 2012-01-14. he was raised in philadelphia, pennsylvania and new hampshire and attended various protestant and quaker schools, eventually graduating from friends' central school. when he was in high school, he built computers. he won a regional science-fair prize for a project titled "an analog computer to solve differential equations". ==1960s and early career== enrolled at columbia as a physics student, de palma became enraptured with the filmmaking process after viewing citizen kane and vertigo. de palma subsequently enrolled at the newly coed sarah lawrence college as a graduate student in their theater department in the early 1960s, becoming one of the first male students among a female population. once there, influences as various as drama teacher wilford leach, the maysles brothers, michelangelo antonioni, jean-luc godard, andy warhol and alfred hitchcock impressed upon de palma the many styles and themes that would shape his own cinema in the coming decades. an early association with a young robert de niro resulted in the wedding party. the film, which was co-directed with leac
1940_births American_film_directors American_film_directors_of_Italian_descent American_film_producers American_people_of_Italian_descent American_screenwriters Columbia_University_alumni Horror_film_directors Living_people People_from_Newark,_New_Jersey Sarah_Lawrence_College_alumni Silver_Bear_for_Best_Director_recipients Venice_Best_Director_Silver_Lion_winners Writers_from_New_Jersey