David Von Ancken

Though his first film--the forgettable 1997 thriller "Box Suite"--failed, David Von Ancken's follow-up, "Bullet in the Brain," based on a "New Yorker" article about a writing teacher who falls victim to criticism, garnered critical praise. Von Ancken then branched out into television; after directing numerous episodes of gritty urban TV dramas like "The Shield," about a corrupt L.A. police precinct, and the highly stylized procedrual "CSI: NY," David Von Ancken returned to the big screen with his second film, the Civil War-era revenge drama "Seraphim Falls." Von Ancken wrote and directed the film, about a vengeful colonel (Liam Neeson) who relentlessly tracks a skilled frontiersman (Pierce Brosnan) across a war-ravaged South, after researching the script for more than six months. After the films release, he waded back into episodic TV by directing multiple episodes of "Californication," starring David Duchovny as a talented author struggling to balance his fragile relationships with his overwhelming carnal desires. He has also worked on single episodes of "The Vampire Diaries," a fantasy-horror series, and "Memphis Beat," which stars frequent Kevin Smith collaborator Jason Lee as a quirky cop with a passion for the blues.