Steven Quale

Steven Quale's film career owes a lot to chance. Born in Illinois in the mid-1960s, he followed his filmmaking passion to USC in the '80s, where he wound up working as a lowly production assistant at 20th Century Fox. During his time there, he was fortuitously noticed by director James Cameron. Quale and Cameron befriended each other and soon, Quale's film career was officially beginning as his worked as a production assistant on Cameron's "The Abyss" (1989). He continued working with Cameron in various production roles on the films "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991) and "True Lies" (1994). For "Titanic" (1997), Quale worked as a second unit director and even made an uncredited appearance as an engine room worker. The experience on "Titanic" made him more confident than ever about helming his own movies in the future, though he never planned to leave Cameron's side. As Cameron backed away from filmmaking for a few years, Quale struck out more on his own, working as a second unit director on "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle" (2000) and "The Haunted Mansion" (2003). He reunited with Cameron in 2005 to co-direct the documentary "Aliens of the Deep" (2005). Following that, he assisted with the directing and visual effects in the blockbuster "Avatar" (2009). Once again, Cameron took time in between his next films, so Quale finally directed a project by himself, making his directorial debut with "Final Destination 5" (2011). He followed that up with the found footage film "Into the Storm" (2014).