Top 30 Directors
by Martin010 | created - 28 Jan 2017 | updated - 3 weeks ago | PublicMy favorite movie directors.
1. 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...
Notable movies: 1) Magnolia (1999) 2) There Will Be Blood (2007) 3) Boogie Nights (1997) 4) The Master (2012) 5) Inherent Vice (2014) 6) Licorice Pizza (2021)
2. Stanley Kubrick
Director | 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Sadie Gertrude (Perveler) and Jacob Leonard Kubrick, a physician. His family were Jewish immigrants (from Austria, Romania, and Russia). Stanley was considered intelligent, despite poor grades at school. Hoping that a change of scenery would ...
Notable movies: 1) A Clockwork Orange (1971) 2) The Shining (1980) 3) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 4) Full Metal Jacket (1987) 5) Eyes Wide Shut (1999) 6) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) 7) Spartacus (1960) 8) Barry Lyndon (1975) 9) Lolita (1962) 10) The Killing (1956) 11) Paths of Glory (1957)
3. Martin Scorsese
Producer | Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan's garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later ...
Notable movies: 1) The Departed (2006) 2) Shutter Island (2010) 3) Taxi Driver (1976) 4) Goodfellas (1990) 5) Raging Bull (1980) 6) Casino (1995) 7) The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) 8) Mean Streets (1973) 9) The King of Comedy (1982) 10) The Aviator (2004) 11) Gangs of New York (2002) 12) The Irishman (2019) 13) Hugo (2011) 14) Silence (2016)
4. Alfred Hitchcock
Director | Psycho
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. He was the son of Emma Jane (Whelan; 1863 - 1942) and East End greengrocer William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914). His parents were both of half English and half Irish ancestry. He had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and ...
Notable movies: 1) North by Northwest (1959) 2) Psycho (1960) 3) Dial M for Murder (1954) 4) Vertigo (1958) 5) Rear Window (1954) 6) The Birds (1963)
5. Christopher Nolan
Writer | Tenet
Best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear, storytelling, acclaimed Academy Award winner writer/director/producer Sir Christopher Nolan CBE was born in London, England. Over the course of more than 25 years of filmmaking, Nolan has gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the ...
Notable movies: 1) Inception (2010) 2) The Prestige (2006) 3) Memento (2000) 4) Batman Begins (2005) / The Dark Knight (2008) / The Dark Knight Rises (2012) 5) Oppenheimer (2023) 6) Insomnia (2002) 7) Tenet (2020) 8) Interstellar (2014) 9) Dunkirk (2017)
6. Akira Kurosawa
Writer | Kakushi-toride no san-akunin
After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater...
Notable movies: 1) Rashômon (1950) 2) Shichinin no samurai (1954) 3) Yôjinbô (1961) 4) Ran (1985) 5) Ikiru (1952)
7. Joel Coen
Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Joel Daniel Coen is an American filmmaker who regularly collaborates with his younger brother Ethan. They made Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail Caesar and other projects. Joel ...
Notable movies: 1) The Big Lebowski (1998) 2) No Country for Old Men (2007) 3) Fargo (1996) 4) Burn After Reading (2008) 5) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
8. 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...
Notable movies: 1) Se7en (1995) 2) Fight Club (1999) 3) The Game (1997) 4) Gone Girl (2014) 5) Zodiac (2007) 6) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) 7) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) 8) The Social Network (2010) 9) The Killer (2023)
9. Quentin Tarantino
Writer | Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of...
10. Sergio Leone
Writer | Once Upon a Time in America
Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti (A.K.A. Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and U.S. directors working in ...
11. Spike Jonze
Producer | Her
Spike Jonze made up one-third (along with Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman) of the triumvirate of genius minds behind Dirt Magazine, the brother publication of the much lamented ground-breaking Sassy Magazine. These three uncommon characters were all editors for Grand Royal Magazine as well, under the ...
Notable movies: 1) Adaptation. (2002) 2) Being John Malkovich (1999) 3) Her (2013) 4) Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
12. Steven Spielberg
Producer | Schindler's List
One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed credits to his name, either as a director, ...
Notable movies: 1) Jurassic Park (1993) 2) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) / Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) / Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) 3) Saving Private Ryan (1998) 4) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 5) Schindler's List (1993) 6) Jaws (1975) 7) Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) 8) Catch Me If You Can (2002) 9) Minority Report (2002) 10) War of the Worlds (2005) 11) Empire of the Sun (1987) 12) Lincoln (2012) 13) Ready Player One (2018) 14) Munich (2005)
13. Denis Villeneuve
Director | Dune
Denis Villeneuve is a French Canadian film director and writer. He was born in 1967, in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada. He started his career as a filmmaker at the National Film Board of Canada. He is best known for his feature films Arrival (2016), Sicario (2015), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), ...
Notable movies: 1) Prisoners (2013) 2) Arrival (2016) 3) Dune (2021) 4) Sicario (2015) 5) Enemy (2013) 6) Incendies (2010) 7) Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
14. 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 ...
Notable movies: 1) Avatar (2009) 2) Titanic (1997) 3) The Terminator (1984) / Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 4) Aliens (1986) 5) The Abyss (1989)
15. Tim Burton
Producer | Edward Scissorhands
Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California, to Jean Rae (Erickson), who owned a cat-themed gift shop, and William Reed Burton, who worked for the Burbank Park and Recreation Department. He spent most of his childhood as a recluse, drawing cartoons, and watching old movies (he was ...
Notable movies: 1) Big Fish (2003) 2) Edward Scissorhands (1990) 3) Batman (1989) / Batman Returns (1992) 4) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
16. Hayao Miyazaki
Writer | Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's greatest animation directors. The entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking visuals in his films have earned him international renown from critics as well as public recognition within Japan.
Miyazaki started his career in 1963 as an animator at the ...
17. Darren Aronofsky
Writer | Pi
Darren Aronofsky was born February 12, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, Darren was always artistic: he loved classic movies and, as a teenager, he even spent time doing graffiti art. After high school, Darren went to Harvard University to study film (both live-action and animation). He won ...
Notable movies: 1) Requiem for a Dream (2000) 2) The Wrestler (2008) 3) Pi (1998) 4) Black Swan (2010)
18. Oliver Stone
Director | JFK
Oliver Stone has become known as a master of controversial subjects and a legendary film maker. His films are filled with a variety of film angles and styles, he pushes his actors to give Oscar-worthy performances, and despite his failures, has always returned to success.
William Oliver Stone was ...
Notable movies: 1) JFK (1991) 2) Wall Street (1987) 3) Platoon (1986) 4) Born on the Fourth of July (1989) 5) Natural Born Killers (1994)
19. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Director | Biutiful
Alejandro González Iñárritu (ih-nyar-ee-too), born August 15th, 1963, is a Mexican film director.
González Iñárritu is the first Mexican director to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and by the Directors Guild of America for Best Director. He is also the first Mexican-born ...
Notable movies: 1) Amores perros (2000) 2) Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) 3) Babel (2006) 4) The Revenant (2015) 5) 21 Grams (2003) 6) Biutiful (2010)
20. Ridley Scott
Producer | The Martian
Described by film producer Michael Deeley as "the very best eye in the business", director Ridley Scott was born on November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. His father was an officer in the Royal Engineers and the family followed him as his career posted him throughout the United Kingdom ...
Notable movies: 1) Blade Runner (1982) 2) Alien (1979) 3) Gladiator (2000) 4) The Martian (2015) 5) American Gangster (2007) 6) Body of Lies (2008) 7) Napoleon (2023)
21. Billy Wilder
Writer | The Apartment
Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929 and wrote scripts for many ...
Notable movies: 1) Witness for the Prosecution (1957) 2) The Apartment (1960) 3) Double Indemnity (1944) 4) Sunset Blvd. (1950) 5) Some Like It Hot (1959)
22. Francis Ford Coppola
Producer | Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer and musician. His mother, Italia Coppola (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated ...
Notable movies: 1) The Godfather (1972) / The Godfather Part II (1974) / The Godfather Part III (1990) 2) Apocalypse Now (1979) 3) The Conversation (1974)
23. Sidney Lumet
Director | 12 Angry Men
Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema, best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors -- and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York. He made over 40 movies, often complex and emotional, but seldom overly sentimental. Although ...
Notable movies: 1) 12 Angry Men (1957) 2) Dog Day Afternoon (1975) 3) Serpico (1973) 4) Network (1976) 5) Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
24. Brian De Palma
Director | Body Double
Brian De Palma is one of the well-known directors who spear-headed the new movement in Hollywood during the 1970s. He is known for his many films that go from violent pictures, to Hitchcock-like thrillers. Born on September 11, 1940, De Palma was born in Newark, New Jersey in an Italian-American ...
Notable movies: 1) Scarface (1983) 2) Carlito's Way (1993) 3) Carrie (1976) 4) Mission: Impossible (1996) 5) The Untouchables (1987)
25. Peter Jackson
Producer | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Sir Peter Jackson made history with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, becoming the first person to direct three major feature films simultaneously. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King were nominated for and collected a slew of awards from around the globe, with The ...
Notable movies: 1) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) / The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) / The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) 2) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) / The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) / The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) 3) King Kong (2005)
26. Ron Howard
Producer | Arrested Development
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard is one of this generation's most popular directors. From the critically acclaimed dramas A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Apollo 13 (1995) to the hit comedies Parenthood (1989) and Splash (1983), he has created some of Hollywood's most memorable films.
Howard ...
Notable movies: 1) The Da Vinci Code (2006) 2) A Beautiful Mind (2001) 3) Rush (2013) 4) Apollo 13 (1995)
27. James Wan
Writer | Saw
James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian film producer, screenwriter and film director of Malaysian Chinese descent. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw (2004) and creating Billy the puppet. Wan has also directed Dead Silence (2007), Death Sentence (2007), Insidious (2010)...
Notable movies: 1) Saw (2004) 2) The Conjuring (2013) / The Conjuring 2 (2016) 3) Insidious (2010) / Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) 4) Dead Silence (2007) 5) Aquaman (2018)
28. David Lynch
Writer | Twin Peaks
Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one state to another as his research scientist father kept getting relocated. He attended various art schools, married Peggy Lynch and then fathered future ...
Notable movies/series: 1) Twin Peaks (1990) 2) Mulholland Dr. (2001) 3) Blue Velvet (1986) 4) The Elephant Man (1980)
29. Terry Gilliam
Writer | Brazil
Terry Gilliam was born near Medicine Lake, Minnesota. When he was 12 his family moved to Los Angeles where he became a fan of MAD magazine. In his early twenties he was often stopped by the police who suspected him of being a drug addict and Gilliam had to explain that he worked in advertising. In ...
Notable movies: 1) Twelve Monkeys (1995) 2) Brazil (1985) 3) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) 4) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
30. Frank Darabont
Writer | The Shawshank Redemption
Three-time Oscar nominee Frank Darabont was born in a refugee camp in 1959 in Montbeliard, France, the son of Hungarian parents who had fled Budapest during the failed 1956 Hungarian revolution. Brought to America as an infant, he settled with his family in Los Angeles and attended Hollywood High ...
Notable movies/series: 1) The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 2) The Green Mile (1999) 3) The Mist (2007) 4) The Walking Dead (2010)
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