Let's make this birthday one to remember.

75 years old (Born on April 11, 1949)

Happy Birthday, Carl Franklin! Another year older and still directing suspense better than anyone else—seriously, who knew that watching Denzel Washington navigate trouble in "Devil in a Blue Dress" could be so thrilling? Your films have aged like fine wine; even after two decades, we're all still trying to figure out how you made us root for morally ambiguous characters.

From your gripping storytelling in "Out of Time," where every second counted (literally), you've kept audiences on the edge of their seats. Here's hoping this birthday brings fewer plot twists but just as much excitement. Keep rolling those cameras!