A prolific indie producer, Hope has helped shepherd dozens of films to the screen over the past two decades, including In the Bedroom, American Splendor, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and The Savages.

The son of English professors, NYU grad Hope first arrived on the scene as assistant director to Hal Hartley on such late '80s films as The Unbelievable Truth and Trust. In 1991, he started the production outfit Good Machine with James Schamus, and zeroed in on the burgeoning indie market, making his name with projects like Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman and Ed Burns' The Brothers McMullen and She's the One. After a dizzying string of mergers and acquisitions, Hope took his exit and founded a new company, This Is That, in partnership with his Good Machine co-workers Anthony Bregman and Anne Carey.

Hope's first major success after leaving Focus Features to set up This Is That (or "Tit" as it's known in the industry) was American Splendor, the Paul Giamatti vehicle that took home the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2003. Subsequent successes have included popular indies like 21 Grams, Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, John Waters's A Dirty Shame, the Jesse Eisenberg vehicle Adventureland, and Alan Ball's film directorial debut Towelhead. [Image via Getty]