? Born June 29, 1966

l Daughter of former Premier Sir John and Lady Swan

? Went to Bermuda High School for Girls for primary and part of secondary school

? Left for boarding school in Connecticut when she was 14

? Did a degree in art history and history at Bates College in Maine

? Spent a year abroad in Paris during college where she did a film course: "I had no idea that film had the potential to be so exciting until I went to Paris."

? Worked at Channel 13 in New York after college, which she says taught her what she did not want to do: "I did not want to be in public television!"

? Attended graduate school at the Tisch School of Film at New York University where she received the Spike Lee Fellowship for a series of shorts

? Filmed her half-hour thesis film, 'Still Water' on location in Paget

? Had her big break in 1998 with 'Mixing Nia', an independent feature film which she directed and wrote. It received Entertainment Weekly's Audience Choice Award at the Bermuda International Film Festival and Best of Festival at the Acapulco Black Film Festival in 1998

? Married Hollywood producer Robert Teitel ('Men of Honor', 'Soul Food' and the 'Barbershop' series) at Christ Church, Warwick on August 26, 2000. Robert DeNiro reportedly told her father at the time that the reception party rivalled the best he'd been to in Tinseltown

? Lives in L.A. with her husband and two young sons but tries to spend at least three months each year in Bermuda: "I am very much Bermudian. That's where I feel at home."

? Together with Rick Najera, wrote the screenplay for 'Nothing Like The Holidays', which premiered in Hollywood on December 3 and opens today in cinemas across North America and at Bermuda's Liberty Theatre.