Alexandre Aja (born 7 August 1977 in Paris, France) is a French film director who rose to international stardom for his 2003 horror film Haute Tension (known as High Tension in the US, and known as Switchblade Romance in the UK). He has also directed the horror films The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Mirrors (2008) and Piranha 3D (2010). His real name is Alexandre Jouan-Arcady and his pseudonymous surname is formed of the 3 first letters of his full name. He is the son of French pied-noir director Alexandre Arcady and French cinema critic Marie-Jo Jouan. Aja is Jewish and his wife is Moroccan filmmaker Laïla Marrakchi. Acted in minor roles in his father's movies such as Le Grand Carnaval, and the two Le Grand Pardon films at a very young age. He made his directorial debut at the age of eighteen with the short film Over the Rainbow, which received a Cannes Film Festival Golden Palm Award nomination for best short film. In 1999 he directed Furia, a movie based on Julio Cortázar's short story Graffiti. From Furia and his next features, he frequently works with Grégory Levasseur as writers. Such as in The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors, P2, and Piranha 3D.