Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski form the Hollywood pair, the Wachowski Brothers. Writers and directors of the smash-hit The Matrix, and the upcoming Matrix: Reloaded and Matrix: Revolutions, the Wachowski Brothers have had a rather brief rise to fame.
Born to a businessman father and a mother who was both a painter and a nurse, the Wachowski Brothers hail from Chicago. They're both college dropouts: Larry from Bard and Andy from Emerson. Larry is the older of the two.
From early on, the Wachowski Brothers demonstrated a penchant for both the creative and the philosophical. The Wachowski Brothers became comic-book writers, and continued their steady diet of comic-books and philosophy.
Finally, they decided to break into the movie biz. They wrote the screenplay dud "Assassins". This was followed by their directorial debut, the cult noir thriller "Bound". After establishing themselves in the Hollywood, they set out to make their dream picture, "The Matrix". The rest, as they say, is history.
I consider the Wachowski Brothers as heroes. Not heroes in that cliche post 9/11 way. No, the Wachowski Brothers are my heroes because they had a vision. They didn't just show up in Hollywood and started making movies - they showed up with a plan. They wanted to make "The Matrix", and they did it with as few steps as possible. Few directors outside the league of Spielberg, Cameron and Scorsese can command the budget that the Wachowski Brothers are commanding for the Matrix 2 and 3. These men have taken a dream and run with it. They give hope to all the other aspiring artists out there who want to see their names on the marquee. And in my book, giving hope is always heroic.
Editor's note: The pair are now known as the Wachowski Siblings following Larry Wachowski's male-to-female transition and adopting the name Lana Wachowski.
Editor's note, some years later: while "Wachowski Siblings" is still technically correct, the pair are now known as the Wachoski Sisters after Andy transitioned to female, some 10-plus years following Lana's transition. It's not the first time that multiple siblings from the same family to identify as transgender and to transition, but it's pretty rare. The former Andy Wachowski is now known as Lilly Wachowski. Another collective moniker for the two is simply the Wachowskis.