(born 1958) (both) With Joel as the director-screenwriter and Ethan as the producer-screenwriter, the brothers have a uniquely skewed vision of ordinary life which permeates and complicates otherwise simple tales of murder, kidnapping and fraud with the human frailties of the characters themselves. As NYU trained independent film-makers, deeply critical of Hollywood legends in Barton Fink (1991), they have gained increasing budgets and acceptance, including a screenwriting Oscar for Fargo (1996), which also garnered a Best Actress Award for Joel’s wife, Frances McDormand (b. 1958)