Roman Polanski; born Raymond Thierry Liebling, 18 August 1933 is a Polish-French film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Polanski is also a fugitive from the U.S. criminal justice system having fled the country in 1978.
His Polish-Jewish parents moved the family back from Paris to Kraków in 1937. Two years later, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany starting World War II and the family found themselves trapped in the Kraków Ghetto. After his mother and father were taken in raids, Polanski spent his formative years in foster homes under an adopted identity, surviving the Holocaust.
Polanski's first feature-length film, Knife in the Water, was made in Poland and was nominated for the United States Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In the United Kingdom he directed three films, beginning with Repulsion. In 1968, he moved to the United States and cemented his status by directing the horror film Rosemary's Baby. A turning point in his life took place in 1969, when his pregnant wife, the actress Sharon Tate, and four friends were brutally murdered by members of the Manson Family. He made Macbeth in England and Chinatown back in Hollywood.