Sam Raimi returned to helm a new adventure with one of the world's most popular comic book superheroes in Spider-Man 2 after directing the record-breaking worldwide phenomenon Spider-Man starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Willem Dafoe.

On May 3, 2002, Columbia Pictures released Spider-Man, which grossed $114.8 million in its opening weekend, making it the largest domestic opening of all time. To date, the film has surpassed $820 million in worldwide box office gross.

Raimi previously directed the supernatural thriller The Gift starring Cate Blanchett, Hilary Swank, Keanu Reeves, Greg Kinnear and Giovanni Ribisi. Raimi also directed the acclaimed suspense thriller A Simple Plan, which starred Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda, and earned Thornton an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Additional directorial credits include the baseball homage For Love of the Game starring Kevin Costner and Kelly Preston.

Known for his imaginative filmmaking style, richly drawn characters and offbeat humor, Raimi wrote and directed the cult classic The Evil Dead, which became an immediate favorite when it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and spawned the equally impressive The Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn.

Raimi then proved his mastery of the fantasy thriller genre, writing and directing Darkman starring Liam Neeson and Frances McDormand, which he followed up with Army of Darkness, a comic sword-and-sorcery fantasy starring Bruce Campbell. Raimi also served as executive producer for John Woo's Hard Target, and co-wrote (with Joel and Ethan Coen) The Hudsucker Proxy starring Tim Robbins, Paul Newman and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Raimi also directed the western The Quick and the Dead starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sharon Stone, Russell Crowe and Gene Hackman.

Raimi's extensive television work includes the hit syndicated series Xena: Warrior Princess, which he executive produced with Tapert. The highly successful series starring Lucy Lawless ran for six seasons. Raimi and Tapert also executive produced the enormously popular Hercules: Legendary Journeys and served as executive producer for the CBS series American Gothic.

Raimi's interest in filmmaking began as a youngster in Michigan, where he directed his own Super 8 films. Later, he left Michigan State University to form Renaissance Pictures with Tapert and longtime friend and actor Bruce Campbell.