Joss Whedon

Joss was born on 23 June 1964, making him a Cancer

The name Joss is Chinese for "Lucky"

His father, Tom Whedon was a screenwriter and TV producer in Hollywood, and worked on shows such as The Dick Cavett Show and The Golden Girls

He grew up in Manhattan

He has two brothers: Samuel, a musician, and Matthew, a writer. He also has two half-brothers Zach, and Jed

Whedon went to school at Riverdale High in New York, a school at which his mother taught. However, when she suggested a trip to England for her sabbatical...

...he then transferred to Winchester College in Hampshire, where he took his A-levels and lived for three years - staying on after his mother went back to the U.S after six months.

The character of Rupert Giles from Buffy, is said to be based on a history teacher at Winchester

His interest in the movie world began as a teenager working in a video store. He went on to do Film Studies at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut where he graduated in 1987.

Whedon now lives in Los Angeles with his wife Kai Cole, their son Arden, and their four cats

Whedon’s first writing job was on "Roseanne"

He also wrote for the TV series of Parenthood, which stared David Arquette and Leonardo Di Caprio

He wrote the fourth Alien film “Alien: Resurrection”

He co-wrote the Oscar-nominated “Toy Story”

The film he would love to have written was Return of the Jedi

Although he never intended to write for TV, he is perhaps best known for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”

The Buffy episode “Hush” was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2000 for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series.

Joss has helped put some of Hollywood’s hottest actors on the map, including Sarah Michelle Geller, David Boreanaz and Eliza Dushku.

The programme was also crowned "Best Show of All Time" at the SFX Millennium Readers Awards in 2002.

Following on from the release of the Firefly series in the UK on DVD, fans can also look forward to the release of “Serenity” in 2005, a feature length adaptation of the series.