Guy Ritchie

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Born in Hatfield, a London satellite town, on September 10, 1968, Guy Stuart Ritchie did not get off to a great start in life, academically at least. At the last of the ten schools he attended he was expelled for allegedly dabbling in drugs and – probably as a result of not being diagnosed as dyslexic until later – completed his formal education with little more than a GCSE in film studies.

After a stint as a builder, Guy set his sights on working in the film industry. Starting as a runner in 1993, by 1995 he was directing music videos and commercials. "I think I wanted to be a filmmaker when I was at school because I couldn't do anything else," he later reminisced in an interview. "There was a course at my school, which didn't seem to be going on anywhere else, in film studies. I picked up on it and before I knew it I was interested in it. And then I got lost. Then, when I was about 25, I found myself again, and I realised I wanted to be a filmmaker."

His first foray into dialogue was with a short film entitled The Hard Case, financed by his then-girlfriend's father, TV tycoon Michael Green. It was this project which gave him the confidence to write, and later direct, the movie that would propel him to fame – Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels. On the strength of seeing The Hard Case, Sting's wife, Trudie Styler, herself no slouch in the film world, became one of the first people to invest in the British gangster movie, in which her husband has a cameo.

And it was Sting and Trudie who hooked Guy up with Madonna over lunch at their Elizabethan mansion Lake House, in Wiltshire. Guy says Madonna's head "sort of spun round" when the two met, adding the encounter "did knock my socks off". The pair enjoyed a transatlantic relationship throughout 1999, until Guy gave Madge an ultimatum: move to London or it's off. Madonna crossed the pond and soon became pregnant by her lover, who was at the time filming Snatch, the follow-up to his debut.

Madonna was not the only high-profile American to be impressed by Guy. Tom Cruise attended a Hollywood screening of Lock, Stock and loved it, apparently describing it as the best film he'd seen in years. As word got round, a bidding war for the US distribution rights got underway.

With Brad Pitt and Benicio del Toro on board, Snatch also garnered significant publicity. It opened in Los Angeles in January 2001 with newlywed Madonna appearing at the premiere in a white suit with "Mrs Ritchie" emblazoned in rhinestones on the back.

Guy's third feature, Swept Away, starring none other than Mrs Ritchie herself, opened in the US in 2002 to less than favourable reviews, however. It was not the first time the couple worked together. The Brit director lensed his better half's What It Feels Like For A Girl video, and the two also collaborated on a short promotional film for BMW. But perhaps the duo's most important joint production is son Rocco Ritchie who arrived in August 2000. Guy is also stepfather to Madonna's daughter Lourdes, and the couple added to their brood in 2007 when they adopted a Malawian baby boy, David Banda.