Directors 2

1. Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen was born on October 9, 1969 in London, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for 12 Years a Slave (2013), Shame (2011) and Hunger (2008). He is married to Bianca Stigter. They have two children.

2. Rian Johnson

Producer | Knives Out

Rian Johnson was born in Maryland and at a young age his family moved to San Clemente, California, where he was raised. After graduating from high school, he went on to attend the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. His first feature film, Brick (2005), was released in 2005 ...

3. Drew Goddard

Producer | The Martian

Drew Goddard was raised in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He attended Los Alamos High School in Los Alamos, New Mexico and graduated in 1993. He then attended the University of Colorado, and worked as a production assistant in L.A. after graduation. A spec script Drew wrote based on Six Feet Under (2001) ...

4. Jeff Nichols

Writer | Take Shelter

Jeff Nichols was born on December 7, 1978 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Take Shelter (2011), Mud (2012) and Midnight Special (2016).

5. Marc Webb

Director | (500) Days of Summer

Marc Webb is an American film and music video director. He directed over 100 music videos before he made his film directorial debut with 500 Days of Summer, a romantic comedy. He later directed The Amazing Spider-Man and its 2014 sequel starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. He also directed ...

6. José Padilha

Producer | Tropa de Elite

He is best known for directing the Brazilian critical and financial successes Elite Squad and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within and the 2014 remake of RoboCop. He has won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for Elite Squad in 2008. He is also the producer and director of the ...

7. Gareth Evans

Writer | Serbuan maut

Welsh born writer/director, in 2003 directed a short film "Samurai Monogatari" telling the tale of a Samurai waiting to be executed. The short was in Japanese language and starred students from Tokyo who were studying at Cardiff University at the time.

In 2003 he also graduated with an MA in ...

8. Nima Nourizadeh

Director | Project X

Nima Nourizadeh is an acclaimed British-Iranian filmmaker whose work spans across Film, TV, Commercials, Music Videos, and Art.

After graduating from Central St. Martins College of Art and Design with a degree in Fine Art Film & Video, Nima began his filmmaking career in London's alternative art ...

9. J.A. Bayona

Director | La sociedad de la nieve

Juan Antonio García Bayona is a Spanish film director. He directed the 2007 horror film The Orphanage, the 2012 drama film The Impossible, and the 2016 fantasy drama film A Monster Calls. Bayona's latest film is the 2018 science fiction adventure film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the fifth ...

10. Park Chan-wook

Director | Oldeuboi

Park Chan-wook was born on August 23, 1963 in Seoul, South Korea. He is a producer and director, known for Oldboy (2003), The Handmaiden (2016) and Decision to Leave (2022). He is married to Eun-hee Kim. They have one child.

11. Rupert Wyatt

Director | The Escapist

Writer, Director and Producer Rupert Wyatt was born and raised in the South of England.

He is the founding member of the film collective Picture Farm that along with its prolific Commercial output has produced numerous Documentaries and Feature Films including the multi-award winning DARK DAYS (2001...

12. Noam Murro

Director | 300: Rise of an Empire

Noam Murro was born on August 16, 1961 in Jerusalem, Israel. He is a director and producer, known for 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), Watership Down (2018) and Smart People (2008).

13. Genndy Tartakovsky

Producer | Samurai Jack

Genndy Tartakovsky was born and raised in Moscow, USSR. He and his family moved to Chicago, IL when he was 7 years old, after his father defected to the US. His interest in comic books and animation led him to study animation at CalArts in Los Angeles. While he was there he produced two student ...

14. Colin Trevorrow

Producer | Safety Not Guaranteed

Born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland, Colin Trevorrow started making short films when he was 12 years old. He studied film and dramatic writing at New York University. After graduation, he wrote and directed "Home Base" a digital short that became one of the early viral successes on the ...

15. Edgar Wright

Director | Shaun of the Dead

Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known for his comedic Three Flavours Cornetto film trilogy consisting of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013), made with recurrent collaborators Simon Pegg...

16. Joe Cornish

Writer | Attack the Block

Joe Cornish was born on December 20, 1968 in London, England, UK. He is a writer and director, known for Attack the Block (2011), Ant-Man (2015) and The Kid Who Would Be King (2019).

17. Niels Arden Oplev

Director | Män som hatar kvinnor

Niels Arden Oplev was born on March 26, 1961 in Denmark. He is a director and producer, known for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009), Drømmen (2006) and Held for Ransom (2019).

18. Antoine Fuqua

Producer | The Magnificent Seven

Antoine Fuqua is an American film director, known for his work in the film Training Day as well as The Replacement Killers, Tears of the Sun, King Arthur, Shooter, Brooklyn's Finest, Olympus Has Fallen and The Equalizer.

He has directed music videos for such artists as Arrested Development, Prince, ...

19. Len Wiseman

Writer | Underworld

Filmmaker Len Wiseman's career began through his work in the art department on the blockbuster hits like Godzilla (1998), Men in Black (1997), and Independence Day (1996). His design talents soon got him behind the camera directing commercials for PlayStation, Time Warner, Oracle, Intel, and ...

20. Francis Lawrence

Director | The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Francis Lawrence is an American filmmaker. He started directing over sixty music videos before he directed the cult classic Keanu Reeves film Constantine, I Am Legend and Water for Elephants. He also directed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2, and Red ...

21. Bryan Singer

Director | X-Men

Bryan Singer is an American film director and producer who got his start writing and co-directing the short film Lions Den with his classmates while he attended USC. He was hired by 20th Century Fox to direct X-Men, which helped kick-start the superhero renaissance. He later directed three sequels....

22. Lee Daniels

Producer | Precious

Lee Daniels gave his parents an early Christmas present when he entered the world on December 24, 1959; unfortunately, the Philadelphia native was to have a difficult relationship with his police officer father who later reacted violently to his son's sexuality. Despite the brutality of his ...

23. Robert Rodriguez

Producer | El mariachi

Robert Anthony Rodriguez was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, USA, to Rebecca (Villegas), a nurse, and Cecilio G. Rodríguez, a salesman. His family is of Mexican descent.

Of all the people to be amazed by the images of John Carpenter's 1981 sci-fi parable, Escape from New York (1981), none ...

24. Nimród Antal

Director | Kontroll

Antal was born in Los Angeles, California of Hungarian ancestry. He moved to Hungary in 1991 to study at the Hungarian Film Academy. After graduating, he went on to work in the film and television industry. In 2005, he moved back to his hometown of Los Angeles to pursue success in Hollywood.

He is ...

25. John Luessenhop

Director | Takers

With Texas Chainsaw 3D, director/writer John Luessenhop successfully rebooted an iconic horror franchise while recording his 2nd #1 US box office opening in a little more than two years. Two summers before, Mr. Luessenhop made a splash when his stylish action film Takers surprised the field and ...

26. James McTeigue

Director | V for Vendetta

James McTeigue is known for V for Vendetta (2005), The Raven (2012) and Survivor (2015).

27. F. Gary Gray

Director | Set It Off

Felix Gary Gray is an African-American music video director, film producer and film director from New York City known for directing films such as Friday, Men in Black: International, Be Cool, The Fate of the Furious, Set It Off, The Negotiator, Straight Outta Compton and The Italian Job. He ...

28. Joe Carnahan

Writer | Smokin' Aces

Joe Carnahan is an American film director and screenwriter. He was born in Michigan in 1969, and was raised in California. He attended Fairfield High School in Fairfield, California. He graduated in 1987, at the age of 18. He first attended the San Francisco State University, and later transferred ...

29. Peter Berg

Actor | Chicago Hope

Peter Berg is an American actor, director, writer, and producer. His first role was in the Adam Rifkin road movie Never on Tuesday (1988). He went on to star in the World War 2 film A Midnight Clear (1992). Roles in Fire in the Sky (1993) and Cop Land (1997) followed, and the Tom Cruise films ...

30. Louis Leterrier

Director | The Incredible Hulk

Louis Leterrier is a French film director and producer. He notably directed the first two Transporter films, Unleashed, The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans, Now You See Me, Tower of Strength and The Brothers Grimsby. He also directed episodes of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance on Netflix ...

31. James Mangold

Producer | Logan

James Mangold is an American film and television director, screenwriter and producer. Films he has directed include Girl, Interrupted (1999), Walk the Line (2005), which he also co-wrote, the 2007 remake 3:10 to Yuma (2007), The Wolverine (2013), and Logan (2017).

Mangold also wrote and directed Cop...

32. John Moore

Director | Max Payne

John Moore was born in Dundalk, Ireland in 1970, a small town situated about 60 miles from the country's capital Dublin. Moore attended a technical college in Dublin where he studied filmmaking and after completing the school he went on to direct and write a series of short films all produced in ...

33. David Fincher

Director | Se7en

David Fincher was born in 1962 in Denver, Colorado, and was raised in Marin County, California. When he was 18 years old he went to work for John Korty at Korty Films in Mill Valley. He subsequently worked at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) from 1981-1983. Fincher left ILM to direct TV commercials...

34. Allen Hughes

Director | The Book of Eli

Albert and Allen Hughes began making movies at age 12, but their formal film education began their freshman year of high school when Allen took a TV production class. They soon made a short film entitled How To Be A Burglar and people began to take notice. Their next work, Uncensored videos, was ...

35. Albert Hughes

Director | The Book of Eli

Albert and Allen Hughes began making movies at age 12, but their formal film education began their freshman year of high school when Allen took a TV production class. They soon made a short film entitled How To Be A Burglar and people began to take notice. Their next work, Uncensored videos, was ...

36. McG

Director | Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

McG was born on August 9, 1968 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009) and The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020).

37. Daniel Espinosa

Director | Morbius

Jorge Daniel Espinosa is a Swedish-Chilean film director, screenwriter and film producer from Trångsund, Stockholm. He graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 2001. He notably directed the Sony's Marvel Universe film Morbius starring Jared Leto and other films including Life, Easy ...

38. Marc Forster

Producer | World War Z

Marc Forster is a German-born filmmaker and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the films Monster's Ball (2001), Finding Neverland (2004), Stay (2005), Stranger than Fiction (2006), The Kite Runner (2007), Quantum of Solace (2008), and World War Z (2013).

His breakthrough film was Monster's...

39. Ang Lee

Director | Xi yan

Born in 1954 in Pingtung, Taiwan, Ang Lee has become one of today's greatest contemporary filmmakers. Ang graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then came to the U.S. to receive a B.F.A. Degree in Theatre/Theater Direction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ...

40. Sam Mendes

Producer | 1917

Samuel Alexander Mendes was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England, UK to parents James Peter Mendes, a retired university lecturer, and Valerie Helene Mendes, an author who writes children's books. Their marriage didn't last long, James divorced Sam's mother in 1970 when Sam was just 5-...

41. Brett Ratner

Director | Red Dragon

Brett Ratner is one of Hollywood's most successful filmmakers. His diverse films resonate with audiences worldwide and, as director, his films have grossed over $2 billion at the global box office. Brett began his career directing music videos before making his feature directorial debut at 26 years...

42. Paul Thomas Anderson

Director | Punch-Drunk Love

Anderson was born in 1970. He was one of the first of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. While film-makers like Spielberg cut their teeth making...

43. Pete Travis

Writer | The Gunman

Pete Travis is known for The Gunman (2015), Dredd (2012) and Vantage Point (2008).

44. Ben Affleck

Producer | Argo

Benjamin Géza "Ben" Affleck-Boldt was born on August 15, 1972 in Berkeley, California and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to mother Chris Anne (Boldt), a school teacher, and father Timothy Byers "Tim" Affleck, a social worker. Ben has a younger brother, actor Casey Affleck, who was born in 1975...

45. Scott Derrickson

Producer | The Black Phone

Scott Derrickson is an American filmmaker who is known for directing horror films such as Deliver Us from Evil, Hellraiser: Inferno, Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. He also directed the superhero film Doctor Strange starring Benedict Cumberbatch. He decided not to direct Doctor Strange in ...

46. Tommy Wirkola

Writer | Død snø 2

Tommy Wirkola was born on December 6, 1979 in Alta, Norway. He is a writer and director, known for Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (2014), What Happened to Monday (2017) and Dead Snow (2009).

47. Joseph Kosinski

Director | Top Gun: Maverick

Joseph Kosinski is a director whose uncompromising style has quickly made a mark in the filmmaking zeitgeist. His four theatrical releases have grossed $2.2 billion worldwide and been nominated for 7 Academy Awards and 2 Grammys.

His film debut, "Tron: Legacy" for Walt Disney Studios, grossed $400 ...

48. Shane Black

Actor | Predator

Considered one of the pioneer screenwriters of the action genre, Black made his mark with his Lethal Weapon (1987) screenplay. He also collaborated on the story of the sequel, Lethal Weapon 2 (1989). Each successive script he turned in had a higher price attached it, from The Last Boy Scout (1991) ...

49. Jeff Wadlow

Producer | Truth or Dare

DGA award nominee Jeff Wadlow's forthcoming theatrical film, Imaginary, marks his third collaboration with Jason Blum under a first look deal that launched Jeff's own production company, Tower of Babble Entertainment. Last year, he was the director and executive producer of The Curse of Bridge ...

50. Robert Schwentke

Writer | Der Hauptmann

Robert Schwentke was born in 1968 in Stuttgart, Germany. He is a writer and director, known for The Captain (2017), RED (2010) and Eierdiebe (2003).

51. Alan Taylor

Director | Game of Thrones

Alan Taylor is an American film and television director from San Francisco known for directing episodes of HBO shows such as The Sopranos, Deadwood, Game of Thrones, and Sex in the City. He directed the feature films Thor: The Dark World, Palookaville, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Many Saints of ...

52. Kenneth Branagh

Actor | Henry V

Kenneth Charles Branagh was born on December 10, 1960, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to parents William Branagh, a plumber and carpenter, and Frances (Harper), both born in 1930. He has two siblings, William Branagh, Jr. (born 1955) and Joyce Branagh (born 1970). When he was nine, his family ...

53. Jee-woon Kim

Director | Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom

Kim Ji-woon was born in Seoul, South Korea. He began his career as an actor before becoming a stage director with productions such as "Hot Sea" in 1994 and "Movie, Movie" in 1995. He then began scripting for films, his first work, 97's "Wonderful Seasons" won Best Screenplay award at Korea's ...

54. Fede Alvarez

Writer | Don't Breathe

Fede Alvarez was born on February 9, 1978 in Montevideo, Uruguay. He is a writer and producer, known for Don't Breathe (2016), Evil Dead (2013) and The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018).

55. Baz Luhrmann

Writer | Moulin Rouge!

Baz Luhrmann is an Australian writer, director and producer with projects spanning film, television, opera, theater, music and recording industries. He is regarded by many as a contemporary example of an auteur for his distinctly recognizable style and deep involvement in the writing, directing, ...

56. Harald Zwart

Director | Den 12. mann

Harald Zwart was born in Leiden, Netherlands, and his family moved to Norway where he grew up. He made his first film when he was 8 years and was active with Super8 and stop motion animation for years. He was accepted into the highly acclaimed Dutch Film Academy in Amsterdam, NL, where he spent 4 ...

57. Stuart Beattie

Writer | Interceptor

Stuart Beattie is known for Interceptor (2022), Collateral (2004) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).

58. Thor Freudenthal

Director | Motel

Thor Freudenthal was born on October 20, 1972 in West Berlin, West Germany. He is a director and producer, known for Motel (2005), Starman (2016) and Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010).

59. Spike Lee

Director | Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. He attended ...

60. Sergei Bodrov

Writer | Mongol

Sergei Bodrov was born on June 28, 1948 in Khabarovsk, Khabarovskiy kray, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He is a writer and director, known for Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan (2007), Prisoner of the Mountains (1996) and The Amateurs (1985).

61. James Cameron

Writer | Avatar: The Way of Water

James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University before switching to English, and eventually dropping out. He then drove a truck to support his ...

62. Timur Bekmambetov

Director | Nochnoy dozor

Timur Bekmambetov is a Kazakh-Russian film director known for vampire franchise Night Watch (2004) and Day Watch (2006).

He was born Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov on June 25, 1961, in Guryev, Soviet Union (now Atyrau, Kazakhstan). His father, Nuruakhit Bekmambetov, is a manager at Guryev Energy ...

63. Duncan Jones

Director | Moon

Duncan Jones was born on May 30, 1971 in Bromley, Kent, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Moon (2009), Source Code (2011) and Mute (2018). He has been married to Rodene Ronquillo since November 6, 2012. They have two children.