British & Irish Directors

1. Jim Sheridan

Following a distinguished career in the theatre between the 1960s and the 1980s, Jim Sheridan wrote and directed his first critically acclaimed feature My Left Foot in 1989. The film was nominated for two European Film Awards. He followed this in 1990 with The Field which he also wrote and directed...

2. Mike Figgis

Director | Leaving Las Vegas

When young he lived with his four brothers and sisters in a council house in Newcastle Upon Tyne then when 14 the family moved to Thornyburn near Bellingham where he made his first film, 'Redheugh'. He qualified in Newcastle as a music teacher and played in a band, 'The Gasboard' with Brian Ferry ...

3. Thaddeus O'Sullivan

Director | December Bride

Thaddeus O'Sullivan was born in 1947 in Dublin, Ireland. He is a director and cinematographer, known for December Bride (1990), Nothing Personal (1995) and Stella Days (2011).

4. John Boorman

Producer | Hope and Glory

John Boorman attended Catholic school (Salesian Order) although his family was not, in fact, Roman Catholic. His first job was for a dry-cleaner. Later, he worked as a critic for a women's journal and for a radio station until he entered the television business, working for the BBC in Bristol. ...

5. Mike Leigh

Director | Secrets & Lies

Mike Leigh is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design and the London School of Film Technique. He began his career as a theatre ...

6. Ken Loach

Director | I, Daniel Blake

Unlike virtually all his contemporaries, Ken Loach has never succumbed to the siren call of Hollywood, and it's virtually impossible to imagine his particular brand of British socialist realism translating well to that context.

After studying law at St. Peter's College, Oxford, he branched out into ...

7. Stephen Frears

Director | Dangerous Liaisons

Stephen started off in a career in the legal profession before switching to work as an assistant stage manager at London's Royal Court which led to work as an assistant director on films by Karel Reisz and Lindsay Anderson He directed his first short in 1967 and his feature debut, Gumshoe, in 1971....

8. Stephen Daldry

Director | The Reader

In 1989, Stephen Daldry worked as a freelance reader of unsolicited manuscripts for Literary Manager Nicholas Wright in the Scripts Department at the Royal National Theatre. In July of that year, he directed a Dadaist/expressionist production of "Judgement Day," a play by Odon von Horvath, at the ...

9. Antonia Bird

Director | Priest

Antonia Bird was born on May 27, 1951 in London, England, UK. She was a director and producer, known for Priest (1994), Face (1997) and Ravenous (1999). She was married to Ian Ilett. She died on October 24, 2013 in London, England, UK.

10. Peter Greenaway

Director | The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Peter Greenaway trained as a painter and began working as a film editor for the Central Office of Information in 1965. Shortly afterwards he started to make his own films. He has produced a wealth of short and feature-length films, but also paintings, novels and other books. He has held several ...

11. Neil Jordan

Writer | The Crying Game

Neil Jordan was born on February 25, 1950 in Sligo, Ireland. He is a writer and producer, known for The Crying Game (1992), Greta (2018) and Breakfast on Pluto (2005). He has been married to Brenda Rawn since June 30, 2004. They have two children. He was previously married to Vivienne Shields.

12. Michael Apted

Director | Amazing Grace

Michael Apted was born on February 10, 1941 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK. He was a director and producer, known for Amazing Grace (2006), Gorillas in the Mist (1988) and Rome (2005). He was married to Paige Simpson, Dana Stevens and Jo Apted. He died on January 7, 2021 in Los Angeles,...

13. Adrian Lyne

Director | Jacob's Ladder

Adrian Lyne (Director/Writer/Producer) is the creative force behind some of the most talked-about movies of our time, among them, Fatal Attraction (1987), 9½ Weeks (1986) and Indecent Proposal (1993).

Born in Peterborough, England and raised in London, Lyne attended the Highgate school, where...

14. Alan Parker

Director | Evita

The son of Elsie Ellen, a dressmaker, and William Leslie Parker, a house painter, Alan Parker was a London advertising copywriter in the 1960s and early 1970s with Collett Dickenson Pearce (CDP), an ad agency. He formed a partnership with David Puttnam as his producer (Puttnam had been a ...

15. Guy Ritchie

Director | Sherlock Holmes

Guy Ritchie was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK on September 10, 1968. After watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) as a child, Guy realized that what he wanted to do was make films. He never attended film school, saying that the work of film school graduates was boring and ...

16. Peter Chelsom

Actor | The Space Between Us

Peter Chelsom is a member of the British Academy, the American Academy, The Directors Guild Of America, and The Writers Guild Of America. Peter was born in Blackpool in the North of England. He is a US and UK citizen. (Trivia: he is an Honorary Citizen of a small town in Tuscany, Italy, called ...

17. Alan Clarke

Director | Screen Two

Liverpool native Alan Clarke got his start in the film business in Canada, where he studied acting and directing. Upon returning to England he got a job at ITV, then moved over to the BBC in 1969. He worked mostly in television, but he made a couple of feature films that got attention for their ...

18. Danny Boyle

Director | 127 Hours

Daniel Francis Boyle is a British filmmaker, producer and writer from Radcliffe, Greater Manchester. He is known for directing 28 Days Later, 127 Hours, Trainspotting, T2 Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, Millions, Shallow Grave, The Beach, Yesterday, and Steve Jobs. He won many awards for ...

19. 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 ...

20. Tony Scott

Producer | Domino

Tony Scott was a British-born film director and producer. He was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom is fellow film director Ridley Scott. He was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England to parents Jean and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. As a result of his father's career in the British...

21. Paul W.S. Anderson

Writer | Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Paul W.S. Anderson gained a fair bit of notoriety in his native England when he directed the ultra-violent Shopping (1994) (which he also wrote), starring Jude Law and Sean Pertwee in a story about thieves who steal by ramming a car into storefronts. The film was banned in some cinemas in England, ...

22. Richard Attenborough

Actor | Jurassic Park

Richard Attenborough, Baron Attenborough of Richmond-upon-Thames, was born in Cambridge, England, the son of Mary (née Clegg), a founding member of the Marriage Guidance Council, and Frederick Levi Attenborough, a scholar and academic administrator who was a don at Emmanuel College and wrote a ...

23. Peter Hall

Director | Three Into Two Won't Go

Sir Peter Hall directed his first play while he was still a student. He soon achieved prominence as a stage director. He started his occasional film work in 1968 with Work Is a Four Letter Word (1968). He was the Artistic Director of The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon from 1960 - ...

24. Ken Russell

Director | The Devils

Ken Russell tried several professions before choosing to become a film director; he was a still photographer and a dancer and he even served in the Army, but film was his destiny. He began by making several short films which paved the way for his brilliant television films of the 1960s that are ...

25. Nicolas Roeg

Director | Don't Look Now

When he made his directorial debut in 1970, Nicolas Roeg was already a 23-year veteran of the British film industry, starting out in 1947 as an editing apprentice and working his way up to cinematographer twelve years later. He first came to attention as part of the second unit on David Lean's ...

26. Iain Softley

Director | Backbeat

Softley was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing, London, and Queens' College, Cambridge University, where he was a member of the college's dramatic society, the BATS, and directed a number of highly-praised theatrical productions. He worked for Granada TV and the BBC before becoming a director...

27. John Madden

Director | Shakespeare in Love

John Madden was born on April 8, 1949 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for Shakespeare in Love (1998), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and Proof (2005).

28. Martin McDonagh

Writer | In Bruges

Martin McDonagh was born on March 26, 1970 in Camberwell, London, England, UK. He is a writer and director, known for In Bruges (2008), Seven Psychopaths (2012) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).

29. Anthony Minghella

Writer | The Talented Mr. Ripley

Anthony Minghella was the son of immigrants from Italy, who own an ice-cream factory on the Isle of Wight, where Anthony was born on January 6, 1954. He and his two siblings, Edana Minghella and Dominic Minghella, grew up there, a popular British holiday spot. After graduating from the University of...

30. Richard Kwietniowski

Director | Love and Death on Long Island

Richard Kwietniowski was born on March 17, 1957 in London, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for Love and Death on Long Island (1997), Flames of Passion (1989) and Alfalfa (1988).

31. Michael Winterbottom

Director | A Mighty Heart

Michael took an English degree at Oxford then trained in film at Bristol and London breaking into television via the cutting room at Thames Television. He made his directorial debut with two documentaries on Ingmar Bergman His production of Love Lies Bleeding won the Silver Award at the 1993 New ...

32. Peter Howitt

Actor | Sliding Doors

Peter Howitt was born on May 5, 1957 in Manchester, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for Sliding Doors (1998), Dangerous Parking (2007) and Johnny English (2003). He has been married to Lorraine since August 5, 2001. They have two children.

33. Sally Potter

Director | The Tango Lesson

Sally Potter made her first 8mm film aged fourteen. She has since written and directed seven feature films, as well as many short films (including THRILLER and PLAY) and a television series, and has directed opera (Carmen for the ENO in 2007) and other live work. Her background is in choreography, ...

34. Gerald McMorrow

Director | Franklyn

Gerald McMorrow was born in 1970 in London, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Franklyn (2008), Thespian X (2002) and Zéro deux (2007).

35. Pat O'Connor

Director | The Ballroom of Romance

Pat O'Connor was born in 1943 in Ardmore, Ireland. He is a director and producer, known for The Ballroom of Romance (1982), Sweet November (2001) and Fools of Fortune (1990). He has been married to Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio since 1990. They have two children.

36. John Irvin

Director | Raw Deal

John Irvin is a British director who has made more than thirty motion pictures in his career so far.

Born in England, Irvin began his career working for British Movietone News. He directed his first film "Gala Day" a documentary financed by the British Film Institute which was bought by the BBC. ...

37. Paul McGuigan

Director | Lucky Number Slevin

Paul is a Bafta and Emmy nominated director known for Sherlock, Lucky Number Slevin, Inside Man and Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool. Born in Bellshill, Scotland he started his professional life as a photographer and then documentary filmmaker. His first film was Acid House in 1998 which is an ...

38. Terry George

Writer | Hotel Rwanda

Terry George was born on December 20, 1952 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for Hotel Rwanda (2004), In the Name of the Father (1993) and Some Mother's Son (1996). He has been married to Margaret Higgins since 1978. They have two children.

39. Bruce Robinson

Writer | Withnail & I

Such is the mythology that has sprung up around Bruce Robinson's first film, the openly autobiographical Withnail & I (1987), that it's often hard to separate fact from fiction. But the facts appear to be these: trained as an actor at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, he got off to a...

40. Roland Joffé

Director | The Mission

Roland Joffé was born on November 17, 1945 in London, England, UK. He is a producer and director, known for The Mission (1986), The Killing Fields (1984) and The Great Hunger.

41. Nick Love

Writer | The Football Factory

Nick Love was born on December 24, 1969 in London, England, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for The Football Factory (2004), The Sweeney (2012) and Monsters (2010). He was previously married to Patsy Palmer.

42. John Schlesinger

Director | Midnight Cowboy

Oscar-winning director John Schlesinger, who was born in London, on February 16, 1926, was the eldest child in a solidly middle-class Jewish family. Berbard Schlesinger, his father, was a pediatrician, and his mother, Winifred, was a musician. He served in the Army in the Far East during World War ...

43. Derek Jarman

Director | Caravaggio

After school, Jarman studied history and art history at King's College. In 1963 he began studying art in Pop Art London. In the general mood of optimism from the mid-1960s onward, he began to openly confront his homosexuality. Jarman took over the set design for Ken Russell on the films "The Devils...

44. Franc Roddam

Writer | Moby Dick

Franc was born in Norton, near Stockton on Tees and on leaving St John's School at Billingham he went to work at Smith's Dock in Middlesbrough but soon gained a scholarship to the London Film School. From there he moved into the film side of tv commercials and freelancing and his productions of The...

45. Julien Temple

Director | Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan

Julien Temple was born on November 26, 1953 in London, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan (2020), Vigo (1998) and Earth Girls Are Easy (1988).

46. David Lean

Director | Lawrence of Arabia

An important British filmmaker, David Lean was born in Croydon on March 25, 1908 and brought up in a strict Quaker family (ironically, as a child he wasn't allowed to go to the movies). During the 1920s, he briefly considered the possibility of becoming an accountant like his father before finding ...

47. Jonathan Glazer

Director | Under the Skin

Jonathan first found fame for his revolutionary work on Radiohead's 'Street Spirit' and Jamiroquai's multi-MTV award winning 'Virtual Insanity' video.

In 1999 he directed the ground-breaking Guinness 'Surfer', which picked up 2 D&AD Black Pencils and the top spot at most of the other awards ...

48. Peter Yates

Director | Krull

Having seen Robbery (1967) and Bullitt (1968), it comes as no surprise that Peter Yates started out as a professional racing car driver and team manager - albeit briefly - before turning his attention to film. The son of a military man, he was educated at Charterhouse School and trained at RADA, ...

49. Michael Radford

Director | Nineteen Eighty-Four

Michael Radford was born on February 24, 1946 in New Delhi, British India [now India]. He is a director and writer, known for 1984 (1984), The Postman (1994) and The Merchant of Venice (2004). He is married to Emma Tweed. They have two children. He was previously married to Iseult Teran.

50. Damian Harris

Director | Gardens of the Night

Damian Harris was born on August 2, 1958 in London, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Gardens of the Night (2008), The Rachel Papers (1989) and Brave the Dark (2023). He was previously married to Annabel Brooks.

51. John Badham

Director | WarGames

English-born "Army brat" John Badham is the son of English actress Mary Hewitt and the stepson of an American Army general. Raised in Alabama and schooled at Yale, he cut his teeth producing and directing for TV before making his feature debut with The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor ...

52. Gillies MacKinnon

Director | Small Faces

Gillies MacKinnon was born on January 8, 1948 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Small Faces (1995), Trojan Eddie (1996) and The Playboys (1992).

53. Henry Jaglom

Writer | New Year's Day

Henry Jaglom trained with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York, where he acted, wrote and directed off-Broadway theater and cabaret before settling in Hollywood in the late 1960s. Under contract to Columbia Pictures, Jaglom guest-starred in such TV shows as Gidget (1965) and The Flying Nun...

54. Kevin Macdonald

Director | The Last King of Scotland

Kevin Macdonald was born on October 28, 1967 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He is a director and producer, known for The Last King of Scotland (2006), The Mauritanian (2021) and How I Live Now (2013). He has been married to Tatiana Macdonald since July 2, 1999. They have three children.

55. Roger Michell

Director | Notting Hill

Roger Michell was born on June 5, 1956 in Pretoria, South Africa. He was a director and writer, known for Notting Hill (1999), Venus (2006) and Enduring Love (2004). He was married to Anna Maxwell Martin and Kate Buffery. He died on September 22, 2021.

56. Mick Jackson

Director | Volcano

Mick Jackson was born on October 4, 1943 in Aveley, Essex, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for Volcano (1997), The Bodyguard (1992) and Temple Grandin (2010).

57. Mike Newell

Director | Four Weddings and a Funeral

Mike Newell was born on March 28, 1942 in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and Donnie Brasco (1997). He is married to Bernice Stegers. They have three children.

58. Nick Hamm

Director | Driven

Nick Hamm is a BAFTA award-winning director and producer. His latest film, Gigi & Nate was released theatrically by Roadside Attractions in September 2022. Other recent work includes Driven, which closed the 75th Venice Film Festival, The Journey, which premiered at the 73rd Venice Film Festival, ...

59. Marek Kanievska

Director | A Different Loyalty

He is well-known for his work in film and television in both the UK and the United States. His feature film directorial debut, Another Country, won awards at the 1984 Cannes and Florence Film Festivals. His next feature film was Less Than Zero, the 1987 adaptation of Brett Easton Ellis' ...

60. Beeban Kidron

Director | Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

She came to prominence with the much lauded adaptation of Jeanette Winterson's autobiographical novel 'Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'. Since then she's directed feature films, television dramas and documentaries. In 2008, she founded the charity called Filmclub with Lindsay Mackie. It has since ...

61. Mike Hodges

Director | Flash Gordon

Mike Hodges was born on July 29, 1932 in Bristol, England, UK. He was a director and producer, known for Flash Gordon (1980), Get Carter (1971) and Black Rainbow (1989). He was married to Carol Laws and Jean Alexandrov. He died on December 17, 2022 in Dorset, England, UK.

62. Richard Eyre

Director | Notes on a Scandal

Richard Eyre was born on March 28, 1943 in Barnstaple, Devon, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for Notes on a Scandal (2006), Iris (2001) and Stage Beauty (2004). He has been married to Sue Birtwistle since 1973.

63. Nick Willing

Writer | Photographing Fairies

Nick Willing was born in 1961 in London, England, UK. He is a writer and director, known for Photographing Fairies (1997), Close Your Eyes (2002) and Olympus (2015).

64. Suri Krishnamma

Director | The Canterville Ghost

Suri Krishnamma is a director known for Locked In (2010), A Man of No Importance (1994), A Respectable Trade (1998), New Year's Day (2000), The Cazalets (2001), Bad Karma (2012) and Dark Tourist (2012). As a writer director he has made a number of short films, including Mohammed's Daughter (1987), ...

65. Stephen Poliakoff

Writer | Close My Eyes

Stephen Poliakoff was born on December 1, 1952 in Holland Park, Kensington, London, England, UK. He is a writer and director, known for Close My Eyes (1991), Perfect Strangers (2001) and Shooting the Past (1999). He has been married to Sandy Welch since 1983. They have two children.

66. Karel Reisz

Director | The French Lieutenant's Woman

Karel Reisz was born on July 21, 1926 in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was a director and producer, known for The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) and Morgan! (1966). He was married to Betsy Blair and Julia Coppard. He died on November 25...

67. Tony Richardson

Director | Tom Jones

The son of a Shipley chemist he was initially connected with the stage first with the post war Shipley Young Theatre then with the Bradford Civic Theatre where he came into contact with the Bradford born author J B Priestley who recognising his potential commissioned him to write a TV documentary. ...

68. Angela Pope

Director | Hollow Reed

Angela Pope is a director who started her career making documentaries for television and the moved into TV drama and features.

Born 1945 in Weybridge Surrey, she was educated at Tiffin Girls Grammar School , and at Sussex University, followed - briefly - by post graduate work at UCLA which, she quit...

69. Steve McQueen

Director | 12 Years a Slave

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.

70. Oliver Parker

Director | Johnny English Reborn

Oliver Parker was born on September 6, 1960 in London, England, UK. He is a director and actor, known for Johnny English Reborn (2011), Othello (1995) and The Importance of Being Earnest (2002).

71. Alex Cox

Director | Repo Man

Throughout his years in the industry, Alex Cox, an English writer-director, has not only proven his loyalty and integrity to cult cinema, but also his love for it. This all began in 1977, when Cox dropped out of Oxford University to study Radio, Film & TV at Bristol until graduating in 1977. Seeing...

72. Marc Evans

Director | My Little Eye

Marc Evans was born in 1963 in Wales, UK. He is a director and writer, known for My Little Eye (2002), Snow Cake (2006) and House of America (1997).

73. Michael Caton-Jones

Director | Memphis Belle

Michael Caton-Jones was born on October 15, 1957 in Broxburn, West Lothian, Scotland, UK. He is a director and producer, known for Memphis Belle (1990), Basic Instinct 2 (2006) and City by the Sea (2002).

74. Hugh Hudson

Director | Chariots of Fire

The old Etonian, after National Service in the British Army, wanted to get into films but found the doors were closed to him, so he worked on commercials for about 20 years. David Putnam gave him a chance to direct Chariots of Fire which was a hit, and he never looked back.

He met his second wife, ...

75. Joe Wright

Director | Pride & Prejudice

Joe Wright is an English film director. He is best known for Pride & Prejudice (2005), Atonement (2007), Anna Karenina (2012), and Darkest Hour (2017).

Wright always had an interest in the arts, especially painting. He would also make films on his Super 8 camera as well as spend time in the evenings...

76. Peter Cattaneo

Director | The Full Monty

Peter Cattaneo was born on July 1, 1964 in Twickenham, London, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for The Full Monty (1997), Opal Dream (2006) and The Rocker (2008).

77. James Marsh

Director | The Theory of Everything

James Marsh was born on April 30, 1963 in Truro, Cornwall, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for The Theory of Everything (2014), The King (2005) and Shadow Dancer (2012).