DITO MONTIEL is an American author, screenwriter, director and musician. The son of a Nicaraguan father and Irish mother, Dito grew up in Queens New York, toured the country in a punk band as a teenager in a leaky van, modeled for Calvin Klein and Gianni Versace with Bruce Weber, and got KO'd in the Golden Gloves boxing tournament.
In 2003, Montiel published A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, a memoir detailing his life growing up in Astoria, Queens in the early 1980s. After adapting his best-selling book into a screenplay, Montiel made his directorial debut with the film version of A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Chazz Palminteri, Dianne Wiest, Rosario Dawson, Shia Labeouf, and Channing Tatum. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize and the Director‘s Award. It also screened at the Venice Film Festival where it won the Critics‘ award and the Isvema Award.
Dito‘s other film The Son of No One, which he wrote and directed based on his third book (The Story of Milk), stars Al Pacino, Channing Tatum, Katie Holmes, Tracy Morgan, Ray Liotta and Juliette Binoche. It chronicles the life of 2 young boys growing up in Montiel‘s hometown of Queens, New York with secrets and murder. It was chosen as the 2011 Sundance closing night film.
© 2011 Anchor Bay Films
