James Cameron has written and directed some of the largest blockbuster movies of the last 20 years, including The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic, and Avatar. His films pushed the limits of special effects, and his fascination with technical developments led him to co-create the 3-D Fusion Camera System. He has also contributed to new techniques in underwater filming and remote vehicle technology.

Although now a major filmmaker, Cameron's first job was as a truck driver and he wrote only in his spare time. After seeing Star Wars, he quit that job and wrote his first science fiction script for a ten-minute short called Xenogenesis. Soon after, he began working with special effects, and by 1984 he had written and directed the movie that would change his life -- The Terminator. Today, he has received three Academy Awards, two honorary doctorates and sits on the NASA Advisory Council.

Read more about Cameron's planned trip to the Challenger Deep, the deepest point yet reached in the ocean »