Woody Allen is known as one of the most neurotic, yet endearing, men on the planet. The director and writer of Oscar-winning films Annie Hall and Hannah and Her Sisters, plus other well-known movies like 1998's Celebrity and Alice (1990), has occupied a place in the American zeitgeist for over 30 years, changing with the times but always maintaining his comedic flair.

Born to Orthodox Jewish parents in Brooklyn in 1935, the former Allan Stewart Konigsberg remembers being a voluntary loner as a child. He opted out of school activities and hated his classes, except for English, as he recalled years later: "I could write real prose in school compositions. There was never a week when the composition I wrote was not the one that was read to the class." He also played baseball and basketball, read comic books, and listened voraciously to the radio (a childhood passion that is explored in his 1997 film Radio Days).

As a teenager, Allen started attending shows at the Flatbush Theatre near his home, paying careful attention to the showmanship of the magicians and comedians he saw perform there. At 15, he also began writing short pieces - in fact, one-liners - for New York gossip columnists. His flair for comedy was already evident, and his work was picked up by an agent who used Allen's material for his clients on a freelance basis. He made money writing for various television shows, including Sid Caesar's, and appeared on the Tonight Show in 1954. He was also (happily) kicked out of New York University, at which point he began writing and performing full-time.

His first writing credit for a feature-length film was for a now-forgotten movie called The Laughmaker in 1962, and it was not until he directed What's Up, Tiger Lily? in 1966 - for which he was paid $66,000 - that the path to stardom looked secure.