Favourite creatives in the film industry
by Seroon_Kel | created - 13 Aug 2018 | updated - 3 months ago | PublicDirectors, writers and composers.
Only listed if I like more than one film or if a series or a film is very important for me.
Film directors sorted by genre from A to Z, then series writers and composers.
The films and series are listed chronologically from the oldest to the newest.
The number is my personal rating.
Favourites by genre:
Action: Christopher Nolan, Wachowskis
Adventure: Peter Jackson, Akira Kurosawa
Animation: Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata
Comedy: Coen Brothers, Wes Anderson
Crime: Sidney Lumet, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino
Drama: Sean Baker, Bong Joon Ho, Chan-wook Park
Fantasy: Guillermo del Toro
Mystery: David Lynch
Sci-Fi: Ridley Scott
Thriller: Hong-jin Na
Western: Sergio Leone
1. 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 ...
Action
08 El Mariachi
07 From Dusk Till Dawn
08 Machete
07 Alita: Battle Angel
2. Zack Snyder
Director | 300
Zachary Edward "Zack" Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter, best known for action and science fiction films. Snyder made his feature film debut with the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead and has gone on to be known for his comic book movies and ...
Action
07 300
08 Watchmen
07 Sucker Punch
08 Zack Snyder: Justice League
3. Luc Besson
Writer | Le Cinquième Élément
Luc Besson spent the first years of his life following his parents, scuba diving instructors, around the world. His early life was entirely aquatic. He already showed amazing creativity as a youth, writing early drafts of The Big Blue (1988) and The Fifth Element (1997), as an adolescent bored in ...
Action
... Léon
08 Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
4. John McTiernan
Director | Die Hard
John McTiernan was born on January 8, 1951 in Albany, New York, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Die Hard (1988), Rollerball (2002) and Last Action Hero (1993). He has been married to Gail Sistrunk since 2012. He was previously married to Kate Harrington, Donna Dubrow and Carol Land.
Action, Adventure, Thriller
08 Predator
08 The Hunt for Red October
07 Die Hard: With a Vengeance
5. George Miller
Producer | Mad Max: Fury Road
George Miller is an Australian film director, screenwriter, producer, and former medical doctor. He is best known for his Mad Max franchise, with Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) being hailed as amongst the greatest action films of all time. Aside from the Mad Max ...
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
07 Mad Max 2
09 Mad Max: Fury Road
6. Matthew Vaughn
Producer | Kick-Ass
Matthew Vaughn is an English film producer and director. He is known for producing such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000) and for directing the crime thriller, Layer Cake (2004), the fantasy epic, Stardust (2007), the superhero comedy, Kick-Ass (2010), and the ...
Action, Comedy
08 Kick-Ass
08 Kingsman: The Secret Service
07 Kingsman: The Golden Circle
7. 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 ...
Action, Drama and Adventure
07 Insomnia
09 The Dark Knight
08 Inception
09 Interstellar
08 Dunkirk
07 Tenet
8. Matt Reeves
Producer | The Batman
Matthew George "Matt" Reeves was born April 27, 1966 in Rockville Center, New York, USA and is a writer, director and producer. Reeves began making movies at age eight, directing friends and using a wind-up camera. He befriended filmmaker J.J. Abrams when both were 13 years old and a public-access ...
Action and Drama
07 Cloverfield
07 Let Me In
07 10 Cloverfield Lane
08 War for the Planet of the Apes
08 The Batman
9. S.S. Rajamouli
Writer | Bãhubali 2: The Conclusion
S.S.Rajamouli is an Indian filmmaker who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He is one of the most celebrated filmmakers ever of the Indian film industry and pioneered the Pan-Indian films movement. Rajamouli was born in a Telugu family to V. Vijayendra Prasad and Raja Nandini. Both his parents hail ...
Action, Drama
08 Baahubali
08 Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
07 RRR
10. 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 ...
Action, Sci-Fi
08 The Terminator
08 Aliens
08 Terminator 2: Judgment Day
08 Avatar
08 Avatar: The Way of Water
11. Lana Wachowski
Writer | The Matrix
Lana Wachowski and her sister Lilly Wachowski, also known as the Wachowskis, are the duo behind such ground-breaking movies as The Matrix (1999) and Cloud Atlas (2012). Born to mother Lynne, a nurse, and father Ron, a businessman of Polish descent, Wachowski grew up in Chicago and formed a tight ...
Action, Sci-Fi and Crime
08 Bound
08 The Matrix
08 The Matrix Reloaded
07 Speed Racer
08 Cloud Atlas
06 Jupiter Ascending
06 The Matrix Resurrections
12. 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...
Adventure, Drama
08 Seven Samurai
09 The Hidden Fortress
07 Kagemusha
09 Ran
13. 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 ...
Adventure, Fantasy and Comedy
07 Bad Taste
07 The Frighteners
09 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
09 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
... The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
08 King Kong
08 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
09 They Shall Not Grow Old
14. 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 ...
Adventure and Mystery
09 Twelve Monkeys
08 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
15. Satoshi Kon
Writer | Tôkyô goddofâzâzu
Satoshi Kon was born in 1963. He studied at the Musashino College of the Arts. He began his career as a Manga artist. He then moved to animation and worked as a background artist on many films (including Roujin Z (1991) by 'Katsuhiro Otomo'). Then, in 1995, he wrote an episode of the anthology film ...
Animation
07 Perfect Blue
07 Millenium Actress
09 Tokyo Godfathers
07 Paprika
16. Sylvain Chomet
Director | Les triplettes de Belleville
Sylvain Chomet was born on November 10, 1963 in Maisons-Laffitte, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines, Île-de-France], France. He is a director and writer, known for The Triplets of Belleville (2003), The Illusionist (2010) and Paris, I Love You (2006).
Animation
09 The Triplets of Belleville
08 The Illusionist
17. Brad Bird
Writer | The Incredibles
Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an American director, screenwriter, animator, producer and occasional voice actor, known for both animated and live-action films. Bird was born in Kalispell, Montana, the youngest of four children of Marjorie A. (née Cross) and Philip Cullen Bird. His father worked in...
Animation, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi
09 The Iron Giant
09 Incredibles 2
18. Tomm Moore
Producer | WolfWalkers
Tomm Moore was born on January 7, 1977 in Newry, Northern Ireland, UK. He is a producer and writer, known for Wolfwalkers (2020), Song of the Sea (2014) and The Secret of Kells (2009). He is married to Liselott Olofsson. They have one child.
Animation, Adventure
07 The Secret of Kells
09 Song of the Sea
08 Wolfwalkers
19. Pete Docter
Writer | Up
Pete Docter is the Oscar®-winning director of "Monsters, Inc.," "Up," and "Inside Out," and Chief Creative Officer at Pixar Animation Studios. He is currently directing Pixar's feature film "Soul" with producer Dana Murray, which is set to release June 19, 2020.
Starting at Pixar in 1990 as the ...
Animation, Adventure, Comedy
08 Inside Out
08 Soul
20. 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 ...
Animation, Adventure and Family
08 Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
08 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
08 Castle in the Sky
09 My Neighbor Totoro
09 Porco Rosso
09 Princess Mononoke
09 Spirited Away
09 Howl's Moving Castle
09 The Wind Rises
21. Martin Rosen
Producer | Watership Down
Martin Rosen was born on August 31, 1936 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Watership Down (1978), Stacking (1987) and Smooth Talk (1985).
Animation, Adventure, Drama
08 Watership Down
08 The Plague Dogs
22. Ari Folman
Writer | The Congress
Ari Folman was born on December 17, 1962 in Haifa, Israel. He is a writer and director, known for The Congress (2013), Waltz with Bashir (2008) and Saint Clara (1996).
Animation, Drama
09 Waltz with Bashir
07 The Congress
23. Isao Takahata
Director | Hotaru no haka
Isao Takahata was born on October 29, 1935 in Ise, Japan. He was a director and writer, known for Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Pom Poko (1994) and The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013). He died on April 5, 2018 in Tokyo, Japan.
Animation, Drama
08 Grave of the Fireflies
08 Only Yesterday
09 Pom Poko
08 My Neighbors the Yamadas
09 The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
24. Hideaki Anno
Writer | Shin Gojira
Hideaki Anno was born on May 22, 1960 in Ube, Japan. He is a writer and director, known for Shin Godzilla (2016), Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007) and The Wind Rises (2013). He has been married to Moyoco Anno since March 26, 2002.
Animation and Action, Drama
09 Neon Genesis Evangelion
09 Evangelion: 1.0 - You Are (Not) Alone
07 Evangelion: 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance
08 Shin Godzilla
25. Makoto Shinkai
Writer | Suzume no Tojimari
Makoto Shinkai is a Japanese director, writer, producer, animator, editor, cinematographer, voice actor, manga artist and former graphic designer. Shinkai studied Japanese literature at Chuo University where he was a member of juvenile literature club where he drew picture books. In 1999, Shinkai ...
Animation, Drama, Fantasy
09 Your Name
07 Weathering With You
26. Nora Twomey
Producer | WolfWalkers
Partner & Creative Director with Cartoon Saloon. ACADEMY AWARD® & GOLDEN GLOBE Nominated Director.
Nora's passion for visual storytelling began at an early age and has led her to explore the medium of animation with her collaborators in Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny, Ireland. From the studio's early ...
Animation, Family
07 The Secret of Kells
10 The Breadwinner
27. Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Director | Omoide no Marnie
Hiromasa Yonebayashi was born on July 10, 1973 in Nonoichi, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for When Marnie Was There (2014), The Secret World of Arrietty (2010) and Mary and the Witch's Flower (2017).
Animation, Family
08 The Secret World of Arrietty
09 When Marnie Was There
08 Mary and the Witch's Flower
28. Henry Selick
Director | Coraline
Henry Selick is a film director, specializing in films with stop-motion animation. He has formal training as an animator.
Selick was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, son of Charles H. Selick and Melanie Molan. He was mostly raised in Rumson, New Jersey. As a child, Selick took up drawing as a hobby. ...
Animation, Family, Fantasy
08 The Nightmare Before Christmas
08 Coraline
07 Wendell & Wild
29. Mel Gibson
Actor | Braveheart
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson was born January 3, 1956 in Peekskill, New York, USA, as the sixth of eleven children of Hutton Gibson, a railroad brakeman, and Anne Patricia (Reilly) Gibson (who died in December of 1990). His mother was Irish, from County Longford, while his American-born father is ...
Biography, Drama, History, War
09 Braveheart
08 Hacksaw Ridge
30. 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 ...
Comedy and Drama
07 Miller's Crossing
08 The Big Lebowski
08 O Brother, Where Art Thou?
07 A Serious Man
08 True Grit
08 Hail, Caesar!
09 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
31. Bo Burnham
Writer | Bo Burnham: Inside
Robert Pickering Burnham is an American actor, director, writer and producer. He is known for writing and directing the middle school comedy film Eighth Grade. He also acted in Funny People, Rough Night, American Virgin, Hall Pass, The Big Sick and Promising Young Woman.
Comedy, Drama
08 Eighth Grade
08 Bo Burnham: Inside
32. Terry Jones
Writer | The Meaning of Life
Terry Jones was born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, the son of Dilys Louisa (Newnes), a homemaker, and Alick George Parry Jones, a bank clerk. His older brother is production designer Nigel Jones. His grandparents were involved in the entertainment business, having managed the local Amateur Operatic ...
Comedy
08 Life of Brian
08 Monthy Python and the Holy Grail
33. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Director | Un long dimanche de fiançailles
Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a self-taught director who was very quickly interested by cinema, with a predilection for a fantastic cinema where form is as important as the subject. Thus he started directing TV commercials and video clips (such as Julien Clerc in 1984). At the same time he met designer/...
Comedy and Fantasy
08 Delicatessen
07 The City of Lost Children
08 Amélie
34. Wes Anderson
Director | Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wesley Wales Anderson was born in Houston, Texas. His mother, Texas Ann (Burroughs), is an archaeologist turned real estate agent, and his father, Melver Leonard Anderson, worked in advertising and PR. He has two brothers, Eric and Mel. Anderson's parents divorced when he was a young child, an ...
Comedy and Animation
07 The Royal Tenenbaums
08 Fantastic Mr. Fox
09 Moonrise Kingdom
09 Isle of Dogs
08 The French Dispatch
35. 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...
Crime and Adventure
09 Pulp Fiction
08 Kill Bill: Vol. 1
07 Death Proof
07 Inglourious Basterds
08 The Hateful Eight
07 Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
36. Fritz Lang
Actor | Le mépris
Fritz Lang was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1890. His father managed a construction company. His mother, Pauline Schlesinger, was Jewish but converted to Catholicism when Lang was ten. After high school, he enrolled briefly at the Technische Hochschule Wien and then started to train as a painter. ...
Crime and Drama
08 Metropolis
08 M
08 The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
37. 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 ...
Crime and Drama
09 12 Angry Men
08 Serpico
09 Dog Day Afternoon
07 Network
38. 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 ...
Crime and Drama
09 Taxi Driver
09 Goodfellas
08 Casino
07 Bringing Out the Dead
08 Aviator
08 The Departed
08 Shutter Island
08 The Wolf of Wall Street
08 The Irishman
39. Nicolas Winding Refn
Writer | The Neon Demon
Writer, director, and producer Nicolas Winding Refn was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1970, to Anders Refn, a film director and editor, and Vibeke Winding (née Tuxen), a cinematographer. Just before he turned 11, in 1981, he moved to New York with his parents, where he lived out his teen years. ...
Crime and Horror
08 Pusher
07 Bleeder
08 Drive
07 The Neon Demon
40. Frank Miller
Writer | Sin City
Frank Miller was born in Olney, Maryland, to a nurse mother and a carpenter and electrician father, and was raised in Montpelier, Vermont. He is of Irish descent. Miller was a big comics writer/artist in the '70s and '80s. He wrote and penciled the Marvel series "Daredevil" for a long time. His ...
Crime, Thriller
08 Sin City
08 Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
41. Robert Eggers
Director | The Lighthouse
Robert Houston Eggers is an American filmmaker and production designer. He is best known for writing and directing the historical horror films The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019), as well as directing and co-writing the historical fiction epic film The Northman (2022). His films are noted ...
Drama and Action
07 The Witch
07 The Lighthouse
08 The Northman
42. Edward Zwick
Producer | Thirtysomething
Zwick moves deftly between the roles of writer, director and producer. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his direction of the 1989 critically acclaimed Civil War drama, Glory. He received his second Golden Globe nomination as a director for Legends of the Fall. Zwick received an Academy Award...
Drama
08 The Last Samurai
08 Blood Diamond
43. 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 ...
Drama
09 A Clockwork Orange
08 The Shining
07 Eyes Wide Shut
44. Greta Gerwig
Writer | Barbie
Greta Gerwig is an American actress, playwright, screenwriter, and director. She has collaborated with Noah Baumbach on several films, including Greenberg (2010), Frances Ha (2012), for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination, and Mistress America (2015). Gerwig made her solo directorial debut ...
Drama
08 Lady Bird
08 Little Women
45. 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 ...
Drama
09 Requiem for a Dream
09 Black Swan
46. Roman Polanski
Director | Chinatown
Roman Polanski is a Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few truly international filmmakers. Roman Polanski was born in Paris in 1933.
His parents returned to Poland from France in 1936, three years ...
Drama and Horror
07 Repulsion
09 Rosemary's Baby
07 The Tenant
47. Alfonso Cuarón
Producer | Gravity
Alfonso Cuarón Orozco was born on November 28th 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico. From an early age, he yearned to be either a film director or an astronaut. However, he did not want to enter the army, so he settled for directing. He didn't receive his first camera until his twelfth birthday, and then ...
Drama
07 Children of Men
09 Roma
48. 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 ...
Drama
09 I, Daniel Blake
09 Sorry we missed you
49. 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-...
Drama
09 American Beauty
08 1917
50. Asghar Farhadi
Writer | Forooshande
Asghar Farhadi was born in 1972 in Iran. He became interested in cinema in his teenage years and started his filmmaking education by joining the Youth Cinema Society of Esfahan in 1986 where he made 8mm and 16mm short films. He received his Bachelors in Theater from University of Tehran's School of...
Drama
09 A Separation
07 The Salesman
51. Kenneth Lonergan
Writer | Manchester by the Sea
Kenneth Lonergan is a playwright, screenwriter and director. His film, You Can Count on Me (2000), which he wrote and directed, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, won the Sundance 2000 Grand Jury Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, the NY Film Critics Circle, LA Film ...
Drama
08 Margaret
08 Manchester by the Sea
52. Sean Baker
Writer | Red Rocket
Sean Baker is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He is an award-winning writer/director/producer known for Take Out (2004), Prince of Broadway (2008), Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), and The Florida Project (2017). Sean's latest feature, Red Rocket, premiered at Cannes on July 14, 2021...
Drama
08 Starlet
08 Tangerine
09 The Florida Project
07 Red Rocket
53. Bong Joon Ho
Writer | Snowpiercer
Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean filmmaker. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his filmography is characterized by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts. He first became known to audiences and achieved a cult following with his directorial debut film, the ...
Drama
09 Barking Dogs Never Bite
08 Memories of Murder
08 Mother
07 Snowpiercer
08 Okja
09 Parasite
54. Robert Zemeckis
Writer | Back to the Future
A whiz-kid with special effects, Robert is from the Spielberg camp of film-making (Steven Spielberg produced many of his films). Usually working with writing partner Bob Gale, Robert's earlier films show he has a talent for zany comedy (Romancing the Stone (1984), 1941 (1979)) and special effect ...
Drama and Adventure
08 Back to the Future
08 Forrest Gump
55. 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, ...
Drama and Adventure
07 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
07 Jurassic Park
09 Schindler's List
09 Saving Private Ryan
56. Noah Baumbach
Writer | The Squid and the Whale
Born in Brooklyn in 1969 Noah Baumbach is the son of two film critics, Georgia Brown and Jonathan Baumbach (also a writer). His studies at Vassar College were the subject of his first film (made as he was 26 years old), Kicking and Screaming (1995). His second major picture, made ten years later, ...
Drama, Romance
07 Frances Ha
09 Marriage Story
57. 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 ...
Drama and Comedy
08 Sunset Boulevard
08 Witness for the Prosecution
07 Some Like It Hot
58. 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...
Drama and Horror
08 Alien³
08 The Social Network
08 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
07 Gone Girl
07 Mank
59. 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), ...
Drama and Sci-Fi
07 Incendies
07 Arrival
09 Blade Runner 2049
09 Dune
60. Alex Garland
Writer | Ex Machina
Alex Garland is an English novelist, screenwriter, film producer and director. He is best known for the films Ex Machina (2015) and Annihilation (2018).
Garland's others works as a writer includes The Beach (2000), 28 Days Later (2002), Sunshine (2007), Never Let Me Go (2011) and Dredd (2012).
He is ...
Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
08 Ex Machina
08 Annihilation
61. Michael Mann
Producer | The Insider
As a director, screenwriter, and producer, four-time Academy Award nominee Michael Mann has established himself as one of the most innovative and influential filmmakers in American cinema. After writing and directing the Primetime Emmy Award-winning television movie The Jericho Mile (1979), Mann ...
Drama, Thriller
08 Heat
08 The Insider
62. 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.
Drama and Thriller
08 JSA - Joint Security Area
09 Oldboy
08 Lady Vengeance
08 I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK
09 The Handmaiden
63. Gore Verbinski
Director | Rango
Gore Verbinski, one of American cinema's most inventive directors who was a punk-rock guitarist as a teenager and had to sell his guitar to buy his first camera, is now the director of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) which made the industry record for highest opening weekend of ...
Fantasy
08 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
08 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
08 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
08 A Cure for Wellness
64. 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 ...
Fantasy
08 Edward Scissorhands
08 Corpse Bride
07 Alice in Wonderland
08 Wednesday
65. Guillermo del Toro
Writer | El laberinto del fauno
Guillermo del Toro was born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Raised by his Catholic grandmother, del Toro developed an interest in filmmaking in his early teens. Later, he learned about makeup and effects from the legendary Dick Smith (The Exorcist (1973)) and worked on making his ...
Fantasy, Drama and Action
07 Hellboy
09 Pan's Labyrinth
08 Pacific Rim
08 The Shape of Water
07 Nightmare Alley
09 Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
66. Alex Proyas
Director | Dark City
Alex Proyas has moved effortlessly between helming TV commercials and music videos to feature films. Born to Greek parents in Egypt, Proyas relocated to Australia with his family when he was three years old. He began making films at age ten and went on to attend the Australian Film Television and ...
Mystery and Action
08 The Crow
08 Dark City
07 Gods of Egypt
67. 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 ...
Mystery and Action
07 Dune
09 Twin Peaks Season 1
08 Twin Peaks Season 2
08 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
08 Lost Highway
09 Mulholland Drive
09 Twin Peaks: The Return
68. 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 ...
Mystery, Thriller
08 Rear Window
08 Psycho
69. 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 ...
Sci-Fi and Drama
08 Alien
07 American Gangster
08 Prometheus
06 Alien: Covenant
09 The Last Duel
70. Na Hong-jin
Writer | Chugyeokja
Na Hong-jin born in 1974 is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. His debut film The Chaser (2008) won Best Director at the 45th Grand Bell Awards in 2008. The film also won the award for Best Film. His follow up film, The Yellow Sea, was released in South Korea on December 15, 2010. It is...
Thriller
08 The Chaser
07 The Yellow Sea
09 The Wailing
71. 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 ...
Western
08 A Fistful of Dollars
08 For a Few Dollars More
08 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
08 Once Upon a Time in the West
72. Raphael Bob-Waksberg
Producer | BoJack Horseman
Raphael Bob-Waksberg was born on August 17, 1984 in San Mateo, California, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for BoJack Horseman (2014), Undone (2019) and Tuca & Bertie (2019).
Animation
08 BoJack Horseman
10 Undone
08 Tuca & Bertie
73. Vince Gilligan
Producer | The X Files
George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is known for his television work, specifically as creator, head writer, executive producer, and director of Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul. He was a writer and producer for The ...
Crime, Drama
09 Breaking Bad
08 Better Call Saul
74. Sam Levinson
Writer | Euphoria
Sam Levinson was born on January 8, 1985 in the USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Euphoria (2019), The Idol (2023) and Malcolm & Marie (2021).
Drama and Comedy
07 Assassination Nation
09 Euphoria
75. Mike Flanagan
Writer | The Fall of the House of Usher
Mike Flanagan is a prolific writer, director, and editor. He entered into an exclusive overall deal with Amazon Studios in 2023 for television projects (after a similar exclusive deal with Netflix from 2018-2022), and has made feature films for Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Netflix and more. ...
Drama, Horror
09 The Haunting of Hill House
07 Doctor Sleep
08 The Haunting of Bly Manor
76. Charlie Brooker
Writer | Black Mirror
Charlton "Charlie" Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English humourist, critic, author, screenwriter, producer, and television presenter. He is the creator and co-showrunner of the anthology series Black Mirror and has written for programmes such as Brass Eye, The 11 O'Clock Show, and Nathan Barley...
Drama
09 Black Mirror
77. Abel Korzeniowski
Music_department | A Single Man
Born on the 18th of July, 1972, in Cracow, Poland. In 1996 graduated the instrumental studies (specialization: cello), and then in 2000 graduated with merit from the composition class of Krzysztof Penderecki at the Music Academy in Cracow. At the same Academy, in the years 1999-2000, he was an ...
Penny Dreadful Season 1 Penny Dreadful Season 2 Penny Dreadful Season 3
78. Angelo Badalamenti
Composer | Mulholland Dr.
Angelo Badalamenti was born on March 22, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Mulholland Drive (2001), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) and Lost Highway (1997). He was married to Lonny Irgens. He died on December 11, 2022 in Lincoln Park, New ...
Twin Peaks Season 2 Twin Peaks Season 3 Lost Highway Mulholland Drive
79. Howard Shore
Music_department | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Howard Shore is a Canadian composer, born in Toronto. He was born in a Jewish family. He started studying music when 8-years-old, and played as a member of bands by the time he was 13-years-old. He was interested in a professional career in music as a teenager. He studied music at the Berklee ...
A History of Violence The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
80. Joe Hisaishi
Composer | Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
Joe Hisaishi was born on December 6, 1950 in Nakano, Japan. He is a composer and director, known for Spirited Away (2001), The Boy and the Heron (2023) and Fireworks (1997). He is married to Ayame Fujisawa . They have one child.
Princess Mononoke The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
81. Cho Young-wuk
Composer | Heojil kyolshim
Cho Young-wuk was born on January 1, 1962 in South Korea. He is a composer and producer, known for Decision to Leave (2022), Oldboy (2003) and The Handmaiden (2016).
Oldboy Lady Vengeance I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK
82. Marc Streitenfeld
Composer | Prometheus
Marc Streitenfeld was born in 1974 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. He is a composer, known for Prometheus (2012), Robin Hood (2010) and American Gangster (2007).
Raised by Wolves Season 1 Raised by Wolves Season 2
83. Shirô Sagisu
Composer | Shin Gojira
Shirô Sagisu was born on August 29, 1957 in Tokyo, Japan. He is a composer, known for Shin Godzilla (2016), Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku (2020) and Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009).
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone Shin Godzilla
84. Takatsugu Muramatsu
Composer | Kureijî kurûzu
Takatsugu Muramatsu is known for In Love and Deep Water (2023), When Marnie Was There (2014) and The 8-Year Engagement (2017).
When Marnie Was There Mary and the Witch's Flower
85. Mong-Hong Chung
Cinematographer | Yangguang puzhao
Mong-Hong Chung was born in 1965 in Pingtung, Taiwan. He is a cinematographer and writer, known for A Sun (2019), Soul (2013) and Parking (2008).
86. Yôji Yamada
Writer | Tasogare Seibei
Yamada Yoji graduated Tokyo University in 1954, the year he joined Shochiku as an assistant director. In 1969, he launched the popular "Tora-san" series, the world's longest theatrical film series. "The Twilight Samurai" (The Twilight Samurai (2002)) marks his 77th film as well as his 41th year as ...
87. Yasujirô Ozu
Writer | Tôkyô monogatari
Tokyo-born Yasujiro Ozu was a movie buff from childhood, often playing hooky from school in order to see Hollywood movies in his local theatre. In 1923 he landed a job as a camera assistant at Shochiku Studios in Tokyo. Three years later, he was made an assistant director and directed his first ...
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