Atom Egoyan CC (/ɛˈɡɔɪən/; Armenian: Ատոմ Եղոյեան; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. Emerging in the 1980s as part of the Toronto New Wave, he made his career breakthrough with Exotica (1994), a film set in a strip club. Egoyan's most critically acclaimed film is the drama The Sweet Hereafter (1997), for which he received two Academy Award nominations. His biggest commercial success is the erotic thriller Chloe (2009). Egoyan's works often explore themes of alienation and isolation, featuring characters whose interactions are mediated through technology, bureaucracy, or other power structures. His films often follow non-linear plot structures, in which events are placed out of sequence in order to elicit specific emotional reactions from the audience by withholding key information. He received the 2008 Dan David Prize for "Creative Rendering of the Past" and the 2015 Governor General's Performing Arts Award. Egoyan is married to actress Arsinée Khanjian, whom he has often cast in his films. Description above from the Wikipedia article Atom Egoyan, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.