Tim Burton

In 2006, Tim's ex-girlfriend, Lisa Marie, sued Tim for a further share of his assets, citing the $5.5m she received when they split up as not being enough.

Tim is good friends with actor Johnny Depp.

Early on in his career, Tim was inspired by Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion films.

He wears a pair of pinstripe socks as a lucky charm at every premiere and special occasion.

When he was a child growing up in Burbank, he staged an axe murder with his brother to scare the neighbors, prompting them to call the police. He repeated the prank again with similar results.

Tim's fiancee, Helena Bonham Carter, was quoted as saying that the reason for his unique vision and style of directing was because she believed him to have Asperger Syndrome, a mild form of autism. She said that it helped to inspire his creative fuel, and was in no way a hindrance, but in fact was a great asset.

His artwork and lots of his films are notoriously influenced by the artist Edward Gorey and his pen and ink drawings.

Tim directed and worked on a music video for The Killers for their song, "Bones".

Tim's film Beetlejuice prominently featured Harry Belafonte's hit "Banana Boat Song" which was co-written by Alan Arkin. Arkin plays Bill Boggs in Burton's Edward Scissorhands.

Tim has a long-standing collaboration with Danny Elfman, who has scored all of his films since Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, except Ed Wood, which featured the noted composer Howard Shore.

His movies always open with a personal version of the studio's logo.

The Boston-based magazine Phoenix gave Burton the title of "26th unsexiest male celebrity".

In 2006, Burton was nominated for an Academy Award for the film Corpse Bride.

In February 2006, in an interview he dismissed rumors of sequels to Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Tim was slated to direct the 1986 remake of The Fly with Michael Keaton in the lead role, but he backed out and Canadian horror director David Cronenberg took over.

Tim was working on a documentary about Vincent Price, called Conversations with Vincent. After Price's death in 1993 he shelved the project and it has never been completed.

Tim frequently uses the same actors repeatedly in his films. Among his favorite actors (who he's worked with at least twice are): Johnny Depp, Michael Keaton, Martin Landau, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Gough, Christopher Lee, Christopher Walken, Lisa Marie, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Vincent Price, Jeffrey Jones, Pat Hingle, Missi Pyle and Deep Roy.

He was a member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997.

He was ranked #6 on Tropopkin's Top 25 Most Intriguing People.

As of 2010, Tim has made seven films with Johnny Depp: Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Alice in Wonderland.

He played water polo and swam for Burbank High School in California.

He once said he never remembers his dreams, apart from five recurring dreams, one of them involving the girl he was in love with when he was a teenager and another involving his parents' bedroom.

Tim is a big fan of exploitation director Russ Meyer.

Among Tim's cinematic influences, there are Mario Bava, Vincent Price, Roger Corman and Barbara Steele whom he homaged in Sleepy Hollow.

He was hired as the director of the failed Superman movie.

He was voted the 49th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, being the youngest director on this list of 50.

Nearly everywhere he goes, he carries a pocket-size sketchbook and a small watercolor kit.

Tim is a fan of Bollywood films.

Tim used the song "It's Not Unusual", performed by Tom Jones, in Edward Scissorhands and then in Mars Attacks!.

At the end of Beetle Juice, Beetlejuice metamorphoses into a bizarre creature with a merry-go-round on his head. On the top of this merry-go-round is a smiling skull which became Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas. The latter movie had been a pet project of Burton's since his days as an animator at Disney.

Tim is known for making very dark, epic and somewhat twisted movies.

He said the only thing his son seems to be scared of are his mother and him.

He has an interest in clowns.

Tim's plots often focus around a misunderstood outcast; a representation of the alienation Burton felt as a teenager.

Tim has his own production company called "Tim Burton Productions".

Tim drew the original headless horseman for Sleepy Hollow, the original Batman and Edward Scissorhands.