Col Needham says he has to pinch himself when he gets to meet his cinematic heroes, such as Steven Spielberg at the Oscars. Needham, 49, based in Bristol, Britain, is unassuming and friendly — and a powerhouse in the movie world.

Needham is the founder and CEO of IMDb.com, the website that's a go-to movie database for consumers and professionals. A self-proclaimed film geek and computer nerd — he ran his own software company at age 14 — IMDb began in 1990 evolving from Needham's personal movie database combined with lists from like-minded fans.

The website now has 250 million unique monthly viewers, and its mobile app has been downloaded 115 million times. Owned by Amazon since 1998, the company, also owns and operates Box Office Mojo.

In the U.S. recently for the Britannia Awards, Needham spoke about the history of IMDb and his all-time favorite films. The following is an edited transcript.

Q: You wanted to see 10,000 films by the time you turn 50 in January. And you recently hit that milestone when you saw the upcoming “A Monster Calls.” Do you remember the first movie you saw?

A: My very earliest memory is seeing “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

Q: When did your love for movies intersect with your love of computers?

A: I'm kind of developing this deep love for cinema, Christmas 1979 — I am 12 — and I got my first computer, so that began my interest in technology and computing.

Fast forward to 1981, the home video revolution hit the (United Kingdom), and VHS tapes are at the gas stations, grocery stores, libraries, video stores. For me, this was amazing. The classic film geek thing to do is to get a paper diary and start to write down dates.

Q: How did IMDb start?

A: By 1990, I was in a film discussion group, and one of the most frequently asked questions was, “Which films has this person appeared in?” Somebody in the group said, “We could really do a database so you could search them.”

I thought, “I could like throw it all together.” On Oct. 17, 1990, the very first version of IMDb software was published online.

Q: IMDb released your top 10 list of favorite films, with Hitchcock's “Vertigo” as your top pick. Among your other films are “Inception,” “Bringing Up Baby,” “Double Indemnity,” “Touch of Evil” and “Eyes Wide Shut.”

A: We've had some good feedback on that. They are proxies for other films, other films by the same director or other films in the same genre. No. 10 is “Touch of Evil,” which is my personal favorite Orson Welles film. It's a proxy for “Citizen Kane.”