American actor and filmmaker Jonathan Caouette was BOTD in 1973. Born in Houston, Texas, he had a turbulent childhood, marked by his mother’s frequent hospitalisation for mental illness, and he was raised by his maternal grandparents. He attended high school in Houston, where he was bullied regularly for his effeminacy, and moved to New York City in 1998. He rose to public attention with his 2003 film Tarnation, a documentary memoir assembled from family photographs, Super-8 camera footage and videotapes of his childhood, intercut with candid interviews with his mother and grandparents. Originally created as an audition tape for John Cameron Mitchell‘s 2006 film Shortbus, Mitchell encouraged him to develop his material, eventually becoming an executive producer for the resulting film with Gus Van Sant. Made for a budget of US$500,000, Tarnation premiered to rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival and was later screened at the Cannes Festival, where it gained an international distributor. Caouette’s next project, All Tomorrow’s Parties, chronicled the history of the All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival using video footage submitted by festivalgoers. He returned to his fraught family life in the 2011 documentaryWalk Away Renee, chronicling his mother’s relocation from Houston to New York City to enter a retired living facility near Caouette’s home. The film premiered at the Cannes Festival and received a brief North American theatrical release, though failed to make the same impact as Tarnation. As well as a brief appearance in Shortbus, Caouette co-starred in the 2006 queer indie film Fat Girls. He lives in New York City with his husband David Sanin Paz, with whom he is raising a son. He has yet to complete another feature film.