“You definitely have moments of confidence, where you feel like, "We got something great today!" And you go home at night, completely unable to sleep, mad with enthusiasm and confidence. A couple of days later, you're lost again and struggling to make sense out of something. But that's okay. I actually enjoyed the struggles.”

This quote is from the Esquire interview

Son of an actor, Anderson grew up in California, enrolled at New York University but dropped out after two days to work as a production assistant in TV, music videos and game shows.  His 30 minute mockumentary The Dirk Diggler Story was made whilst still at high-school, but the character was revisited in his feature film Boogie Nights, which launched his international career.  However, prior to this he made Cigarettes and Coffee, which was a series of vignettes set in a diner and stitched together into one film which screened at Sundance to great acclaim.  He has been nominated for many Oscars, but so far has just missed out on actually winning.