Birth name: Jan Tomas Forman
Date of birth: 18 February 1932,
Location: Cáslav, Czechoslovakia
As his parents died in the
nazi concentration camp of
Auschwitz Tomas Jan became an orphan very early on.
Later he studied direction at the School of Cinema in
Prague. In his
Czechoslovakian films "Cerny Petr (1963)", "Lasky jedne Plavovlasky (1965)" and "Hori, Ma Panenko (1968)" he created his own style of
comedy.
During the invasion of his country by the troops of the
Warsaw pact in the summer of
1968 to stop the
Prague spring he left
Europe for the
United States. In spite of the difficulties he filmed there "Taking Off (1971)" and achieved his fame later with "
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)" adapted from the novel of 'Ken Kasey' and which not only won five
oscars including one for direction.
Other important films of Milos Forman were the musical "
Hair (1979)" and certainly his biography of '
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart' "Amadeus (1984)" which won eight
oscars.
His newest movies:
The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and
Man on The Moon (1999, starring
Jim Carrey).