Alfonso Cuarón

Alfonso Cuarón Orozco (born November 28, 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican film director. He directed the third Harry Potter film in the successful Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Cuarón made the film darker and more saturated, a major change from the previous two. Although author J.K. Rowling has said that this movie is so far her personal favourite from the series, fans have raised concerns, including criticism of the mode of dress (Cuarón replaced the flowing Wizarding robes with "Muggle" clothing in many scenes, to the point where the cover art of the film depicts Harry, Ron, and Hermione in "Muggle" clothing).

Alfonso Cuarón grew up in Mexico City and went on to study both filmmaking and philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. After graduating, Cuaron began working in television in Mexico, first as a technician and then as a director. Cuaron's television work led to assignments as an assistant director for several Latin American film productions (including Gaby: A True Story and Romero), and in 1991, he landed his first big-screen directorial assignment.

Solo con tu pareja was a dark comedy about a womanizing businessman who learns he's contracted AIDS; the film was a massive hit in Mexico, and was enthusiastically received around the world. Director Sydney Pollack was impressed enough with Solo con tu pareja that he hired Cuaron to direct an episode of Fallen Angels, a series of neo-noir stories produced for the Showtime premium cable network in 1993; other directors who worked on the series included Steven Soderbergh, Jonathan Kaplan, Peter Bogdanovich and Tom Hanks.

In 1995, Cuarón released his first feature film produced in the United States, A Little Princess, an adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic novel. Cuaron's next feature was also a literary adaptation, a modernized version of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Robert De Niro.

Cuarón's next project found him making a severe left turn; shot in Mexico with a Spanish-speaking cast, Y tu mamá también was a funny, provocative, and controversial road comedy about two sexually obsessed teenagers who take an extended road trip with an attractive woman in her thirties. The film's open portrayal of sexuality and frequent rude humour, as well as the politically and socially relevant asides, made the film an international hit and a major success with critics.