Paul Thomas Anderson is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is also known as P. T. Anderson or PTA. The son of a radio and television personality, Anderson was raised within the entertainment industry. He had a loving relationship with his father who encouraged him to pursue his filmmaking aspirations. At the age of eight, he made his first film. By the time he reached adolescence, he had started writing scripts. He spent years developing his skills behind the camera before writing and directing his first formal production, a mockumentary film called ‘The Dirk Diggler Story’, in 1988. Anderson made his first feature production in 1996; it was a neo-noir crime thriller film called ‘Hard Eight’ that starred Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Samuel L. Jackson. In the ensuing years, he worked with some of the best actors in the industry including Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, and Philip Seymour Hoffman and has been nominated for eight Academy Awards. All of his films have received critical acclaim and movies such as ‘Boogie Nights’ and ‘There Will Be Blood’ have garnered commercial success as well. ‘There Will Be Blood’ is widely regarded as one of the best films of the 21st century and it, along with ‘The Master’ and ‘Inherent Vice’, were listed among BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century so far.