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Abel Ferrara (born July 19, 1951) is an American film screenwriter and director. He is best known as an independent filmmaker of such films as The Driller Killer (1979), Ms. 45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The Funeral (1996). Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent. He was raised Catholic, which had a later effect on much of his work. At 15, he moved to Peekskill in Westchester, New York where he attended high school with Nicholas St. John, who has written most of his films. He attended the film conservatory at SUNY Purchase, where he... MORE

Abel Ferrara (born July 19, 1951) is an American film screenwriter and director. He is best known as an independent filmmaker of such films as The Driller Killer (1979), Ms. 45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The Funeral (1996). Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent. He was raised Catholic, which had a later effect on much of his work. At 15, he moved to Peekskill in Westchester, New York where he attended high school with Nicholas St. John, who has written most of his films. He attended the film conservatory at SUNY Purchase, where he directed several movies, which are all available on "The Short Films of Abel Ferrara" collection. Soon finding himself out of work, he directed a pornographic film titled 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy in 1976, which starred his then-girlfriend. Interviewed by the Guardian in 2010, he recalled having to step in front of the camera: "It's bad enough paying a guy $200 to fuck your girlfriend, then he can't get it up." Ferrarra first drew a cult audience with his grindhouse movie The Driller Killer (1979), an urban slasher in the mold of Taxi Driver (1976), about an artist (played by Ferrara himself under the LESS