Born as İlya Kazancıoglu, on 7 September 1909 in Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey. He emigrated with his Greek parents to the United States at the age of four, and his name underwent a process of Americanization. Young Kazan was made painfully aware of being an outsole in his adopted country. Strictly brought up, he was not allowed to mix with other boys. His family was hir hard by the Depression, but he managed to work his way through college, and then briefly attended Yale Drama School when he developed a special interest in the theatre. An aggressive and angry young man, he joined the Communist Patry for a time and gained his first stage experience with the politically committed, "leftish" Group Theatre during the 30s. Aware of his limitations as an actor, Kazan also worked as a s cage manager and apprentice director, tried his hand at radio acting and play writing, but was interes red, most of all, in films. He acted in and co-directed several shorts and appeared in a couple of features directed by Anarole Licvak in 1940-41. Kazan's first breakthrough as a theatre director came in 1942 with Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth starring Fredric March, the success of which soon led to more offers than he could handle. But his ambition was to make movies, and in 1944 he accepted an offer from 20th Century-Fox to direct A Tree Grows In Brooklyn as the first of a non-exclusive, five-picture deal. The picture served as a good apprentice piece, but by the time it was released the young director was back on Broadway, and only returned to Hollywood in 1946 when he was given two films in quick succession. The filming of Sea Of Grass turned out to be his most disappointing Hollywood experience. Quickly returning to Fox he was on more familiar ground with Boomerang which began Kazan's period of social relevance. Its semi-documentary style aspired towards an American neo-realism, and it foreshadowed much of the television drama of the succeeding decade. 1947 was another memorable year in Kazan's now prolific and theatre career. He directed Arthur Miller's first big stage success, All My Sons, early in the year then, with Lee Strasberg, scarred the famous Actors' Studio in New York as a training ground for young actors. He directed one film, Gencleman's Agreement, then rounded out his year in the theatre with the phenomenally successful A Streetcar Named Desire starting Marlon Brando and marking the beginning of Kazan's long and fruitful collaboration with playwright Tennessee Williams. The play received the Pulitzer Prize, while Gentleman's Agreement was a big critical and box-office success, winning the Best Picture Oscar and giving Kazan his first directing statuette. In this picture, as in Pinky which followed in 1949, he made a worthy attempt to treat serious social issues on the screen - antisemitism in the former, anti black prejudice in the later – thus reflecting his own left-wing political background. Solidly crafted and well acted they brought to a close the first phase of his movie career.