Born and raised in London, Nolan developed an interest in filmmaking from a young age. After studying English literature at University College London, he made his feature debut with "Following" (1998). Nolan gained international recognition with his second film, "Memento" (2000), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He transitioned from independent to studio filmmaking with "Insomnia" (2002), and found further critical and commercial success with "The Dark Knight Trilogy" (2005–2012), "The Prestige" (2006), and "Inception" (2010), which received eight Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. This was followed by "Interstellar" (2014), "Dunkirk" (2017), and "Tenet" (2020). He earned Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director for his work on "Dunkirk".