Alex Garland (born 1970) is a British novelist, screenwriter, and director. Garland is the son of political cartoonist Nick (Nicholas) Garland. He attended the independent University College School, in Hampstead, London, and the University of Manchester, where he studied art history. His first novel, The Beach, was published in 1996 and drew on his experiences as a backpacker. The novel quickly became a cult classic and was made into a film by Danny Boyle, with Leonardo DiCaprio. The Tesseract, Garland's second novel, was published in 1998. This was also made into a film, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers. In 2003, he wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, starring Cillian Murphy. His third novel, The Coma, was published in 2004 and was illustrated with woodcuts by his father. In 2007 he wrote the screenplay for the film Sunshine—his second screenplay to be directed by Danny Boyle and star Cillian Murphy as lead. Garland also served as an executive producer on 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to 28 Days Later. Garland also wrote the first screenplay for Halo, the film adaptation of the successful video game franchise by Bungie Studios. He made his directorial debut with Ex Machina, a 2014 feature film based on his own story and screenplay. His partner is actress/director Paloma Baeza.