Filmmakers To Keep an Eye On
by davidtbancroft | created - 07 Jul 2019 | updated - 2 weeks ago | Public... in alphabetical order.
1. Hany Abu-Assad
Director | Omar
Hany Abu-Assad a Palestinian/Dutch movie director and writer. From the famous movies Abu-Assad has directed so far are : Rana's Wedding (2002), Paradise Now (2005) and Omar (2013), The mountains between us (2017). He has been nominated twice for Academy Awards for his movies 'Paradise Now' in 2006 ...
2. Desiree Akhavan
Director | Appropriate Behavior
Desiree Akhavan was born on December 27, 1984 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a director and actress, known for Appropriate Behavior (2014), The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) and The Bisexual (2018).
3. 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...
4. 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 ...
5. Judd Apatow
Producer | Girls
Judd Apatow is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He directed The 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, This is 40, Funny People, Trainwreck and The King of Staten Island. He also developed the television shows Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Girls, Love and Crashing. He is ...
6. Guillermo Arriaga
Writer | The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Guillermo Arriaga was born on March 13, 1958 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He is a writer and producer, known for The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005), 21 Grams (2003) and Amores Perros (2000).
7. 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 ...
8. Ari Aster
Director | Hereditary
Ari Aster is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for writing and directing the A24 horror films Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019). Aster was born into a Jewish family in New York City on July 15, 1986, the son of a poet mother and musician father. He has a ...
9. Richard Ayoade
Writer | Submarine
Richard Ellef Ayoade was born in Hammersmith, and grew up in Suffolk, in England, the son of a Norwegian mother, Dagny Amalie (Baassuik), and a Nigerian father, Layide Ade Laditi Ayoade. He studied Law at Cambridge university, and followed in the footsteps of British Comedy legends like Monty ...
10. Jeff Baena
Writer | The Little Hours
Jeff Baena was born on June 29, 1977 in Miami, Florida, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Little Hours (2017), Life After Beth (2014) and Joshy (2016). He has been married to Aubrey Plaza since May 7, 2021.
11. Alan Ball
Producer | American Beauty
Alan Ball is an American writer, director, and producer who is known for writing the acclaimed film American Beauty and creating the HBO series True Blood starring Anna Paquin. He also wrote the films Towelhead and Uncle Frank. He also created Here and Now, Six Feet Under, and Banshee. He won ...
12. 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, ...
13. Justin Benson
Director | The Endless
Justin Benson was born on June 9, 1983 in San Diego, California, USA. He is a director and producer, known for The Endless (2017), Spring (2014) and Synchronic (2019).
14. Susanne Bier
Director | Hævnen
Though Academy Award®, Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award winning writer and director Susanne Bier's work often plays out against a wide-reaching global backdrop, its focus is intimate, carefully exploring the explosive emotions and complexities of familial bonds. This unique combination is part of ...
15. Neill Blomkamp
Director | District 9
Neill Blomkamp is a South African-Canadian film director and screenwriter who is known for the science fiction films District 9, Elysium and Chappie. He also directed the supernatural horror film Demonic and the 2007 short film Halo: Landfall, based on the Microsoft science fiction video game ...
16. 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 ...
17. Kristoffer Borgli
Director | Syk pike
Kristoffer Borgli was born in 1985 in Oslo, Norway. He is a director and writer, known for Sick of Myself (2022), Dream Scenario (2023) and Former Cult Member Hears Music for the First Time (2020).
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. Patrick Brice
Director | Creep
Patrick Brice was born on April 23rd, 1983 in Grass Valley, California as Donat Patrick Kack-Brice. He is an actor, writer, and director known for Maurice (2011), Creep (2014), The Overnight (2015), Creep 2 (2017), Corporate Animals (2019) and There's Someone Inside Your House (2021). He holds a ...
20. Mel Brooks
Actor | Spaceballs
Mel Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. He served in WWII, and afterwards got a job playing the drums at nightclubs in the Catskills. Brooks eventually started a comedy act and also worked in radio and as Master Entertainer at Grossinger's Resort before going to ...
21. 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.
22. Mike Cahill
Editor | Another Earth
Mike Cahill was born on July 5, 1979 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He is an editor and director, known for Another Earth (2011), I Origins (2014) and Boxers and Ballerinas (2004).
23. Shane Carruth
Composer | Upstream Color
Writer-director Shane Carruth, a former software engineer, burst onto the independent movie scene with his extremely low-budget science-fiction film Primer (2004) in 2004. Carruth also played one of the two leads in the film and composed its music. "Primer" won the Grand Jury Prize and the Alfred P...
24. Adam Christian Clark
Director | Caroline and Jackie
Caroline and Jackie, Adam Christian Clark's critically-acclaimed first feature film, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival before receiving a US theatrical release.
Clark's second feature film, Newly Single was supported by the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, and was honored by being only ...
25. Ethan Coen
Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The younger brother of Joel, Ethan Coen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning writer, producer and director coming from small independent films to big profile Hollywood films. He was born on September 21, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In some films of the brothers- Ethan & Joel wrote, Joel...
26. 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 ...
27. Sofia Coppola
Actress | The Godfather Part III
Sofia Coppola was born on May 14, 1971 in New York City, New York, USA as Sofia Carmina Coppola. She is a director, known for Somewhere (2010), Lost in Translation (2003), and Marie Antoinette (2006). She has been married to Thomas Mars since August 27, 2011. They have two daughters, Romy and ...
28. Cherien Dabis
Producer | Amreeka
Cherien Dabis is a critically acclaimed and award winning Palestinian American film and television director, writer, and actress. Born in the U.S. and raised in Ohio and Jordan, Dabis studied film at Columbia University's School of the Arts.
Most recently, Dabis was Emmy nominated for Outstanding ...
29. Jonathan Dayton
Director | Little Miss Sunshine
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris have built an impressive body of work by perpetually seeking innovative projects in a variety of mediums.
After introducing bands such as R.E.M. and Red Hot Chili Peppers on their ground-breaking MTV show The Cutting Edge (1992), Jonathan and Valerie continued to ...
30. 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 ...
31. Lena Dunham
Writer | Tiny Furniture
New Yorker Lena Dunham is the daughter of a painter, Carroll Dunham and Laurie Simmons, a designer and photographer. Dunham was educated at Oberlin College, Ohio, graduating with a creative writing degree. It was while at Oberlin that she began writing shorts and feature films. In 2009, Dunham ...
32. Jay Duplass
Actor | Industry
Jay Duplass, along with his brother, Mark Duplass, first made a name for himself writing and directing several award-winning short films. His first feature film was the Sundance 2005 breakout hit "The Puffy Chair," which went on to win the Audience Award at SXSW and receive two Independent Spirit ...
33. Mark Duplass
Actor | Safety Not Guaranteed
Mark Duplass was born on December 7, 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Safety Not Guaranteed (2012), Creep (2014) and The One I Love (2014). He has been married to Katie Aselton since August 26, 2006. They have two children.
34. Clea DuVall
Actress | The Faculty
Clea DuVall was born in Los Angeles on September 25, 1977, to Rosemary (Hatch) and actor Steph DuVall. DuVall's teenage years presented her with many challenges. Her parents divorced when she was twelve, and, when her mother remarried, DuVall moved out because she did not feel at home in the ...
35. Ava DuVernay
Writer | Queen Sugar
A director, producer, writer, marketer and film distributor, Ava DuVernay made her feature film debut with the documentary This is the Life (2008), a history on hip hop movement that flourished in Los Angeles in the 1990's. This was followed by series of television music documentaries which ...
36. Atom Egoyan
Director | The Sweet Hereafter
Born in Egypt to Armenian parents, he was raised in Western Canada. Both his parents were painters, and he planned to be a playwright, but after making a short film, he became hooked on telling stories visually. Returned to ethnic "homeland" when he filmed Calendar (1993) in Armenia. Won attention ...
37. 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...
38. Valerie Faris
Director | Little Miss Sunshine
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris have built an impressive body of work by perpetually seeking innovative projects in a variety of mediums.
After introducing bands such as REM and The Red Hot Chili Peppers on their ground breaking MTV show The Cutting Edge, Jonathan and Valerie continued to work in ...
39. Emerald Fennell
Writer | Saltburn
Emerald Lilly Fennell is an English actress, filmmaker, and writer. She has received many awards and nominations, including an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, one Screen Actors Guild Award, and nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. Fennell first ...
40. Hannah Fidell
Writer | A Teacher
Hannah Fidell was born on October 7, 1985 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for A Teacher (2013), A Teacher (2020) and 6 Years (2015). She has been married to Jake Longstreth since September 23, 2017.
41. 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 ...
42. 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 ...
43. 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 ...
44. 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) ...
45. Evan Goldberg
Producer | This Is the End
Evan Goldberg is a Canadian director, screenwriter and producer. Goldberg is known for his work on Superbad, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, Funny People, The Green Hornet, 50/50, Goon, The Watch, This is the End, Neighbors, The Interview and The Night Before. Goldberg works alongside longtime ...
46. Debra Granik
Director | Leave No Trace
Debra Granik (born February 6, 1963) is an American New York City-based independent film and documentary film director and screenwriter. She is most known for 2004's Down to the Bone, which starred Vera Farmiga, 2010's Winter's Bone, which starred Jennifer Lawrence in her breakout performance and ...
47. David Gordon Green
Producer | Halloween Kills
David Gordon Green was born on April 9, 1975 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Halloween Kills (2021), Prince Avalanche (2013) and Halloween (2018).
48. Kitty Green
Director | The Assistant
Kitty Green was born on August 8, 1984 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is a director and writer, known for The Assistant (2019), Casting JonBenet (2017) and The Royal Hotel (2023).
49. Christopher Guest
Actor | This Is Spinal Tap
U.S.-born actor, director, writer, musician, and composer best known for his mockumentaries, poking fun at heavy metal music, small town theatre, dog shows, folk music and film-making itself, Christopher Haden-Guest was born February fifth, 1948, in New York City. His mother, Jean Pauline (Hindes),...
50. Mary Harron
Director | American Psycho
Mary Harron (born January 12, 1953) is a Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter. She gained recognition for her role in writing and directing several independent films, including I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), American Psycho (2000), and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). She co-wrote American Psycho and ...
51. Jared Hess
Director | Napoleon Dynamite
Jared Lawrence Hess and Jerusha Elizabeth Hess (née Demke; born May 12, 1980) are husband-and-wife American filmmakers best known for their work on Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nacho Libre (2006) and Gentlemen Broncos (2009), all of which they co-wrote and which were directed by Jared (Nacho Libre was...
52. Jerusha Hess
Writer | Austenland
Jerusha Hess was born on July 12, 1980 in Olathe, Kansas, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for Austenland (2013), Ninety-Five Senses (2022) and Napoleon Dynamite (2004). She is married to Jared Hess. They have one child.
53. Nicole Holofcener
Director | Enough Said
Nicole Holofcener was born on March 22, 1960 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a director and writer, known for Enough Said (2013), Friends with Money (2006) and Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018). She was previously married to Benjamin Allanoff.
54. Sophie Hyde
Producer | 52 Tuesdays
Sophie Hyde was born in 1977 in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. She is a producer and writer, known for 52 Tuesdays (2013), Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022) and The Hunting (2019).
55. Armando Iannucci
Writer | The Death of Stalin
Armando Iannucci was born on November 28, 1963 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for The Death of Stalin (2017), In the Loop (2009) and Veep (2012). He has been married to Rachel Jones since August 25, 1990. They have two children.
56. 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 ...
57. Jim Jarmusch
Director | Paterson
Moved to New York City at the age of seventeen from Akron, Ohio. Graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in English, class of '75. Without any prior film experience, he was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts, New York.
58. Barry Jenkins
Producer | If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins was born on November 19, 1979 in Miami, Florida, USA. He is a producer and director, known for If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), Moonlight (2016) and Aftersun (2022).
59. Tamara Jenkins
Director | The Savages
Tamara Jenkins was born on May 2, 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She is a director and writer, known for The Savages (2007), Private Life (2018) and Slums of Beverly Hills (1998). She has been married to Jim Taylor since 2002. They have one child.
60. Matt Johnson
Actor | Operation Avalanche
Matt Johnson was born on October 5, 1985 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor and director, known for Operation Avalanche (2016), The Dirties (2013) and BlackBerry (2023).
61. 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 ...
62. 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 ...
63. Mike Judge
Writer | Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
Mike Judge is an American actor, animator, film director, screenwriter, and television producer.
In 1962, Judge was born in Guayaquil, the largest city of Ecuador and the country's main port. His parents were expatriate Americans. His father was archaeologist William James Judge and his mother was ...
64. Charlie Kaufman
Writer | I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Avid reader Charlie Kaufman wrote plays and made short films as a young student. He moved from Massapequa, New York to West Hartford, Connecticut in 1972 where he attended high school. As a comedic actor, he performed in school plays and, after graduation, he enrolled at Boston University but soon ...
65. Harmony Korine
Director | Gummo
Harmony Korine was born in 1973 in Bolinas, California. His family moved to the east coast of the United States when he was five, and he spent his early years in Nashville, Tennessee, and New York. At the age of nineteen, he wrote the critically acclaimed screenplay Kids (1995) for director Larry ...
66. Daniel Kwan
Director | Everything Everywhere All at Once
Daniel Kwan with Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, are a duo of film directors and writers. They began their career as directors of music videos, including the popular DJ Snake promotional for the single "Turn Down for What" (2013). They have since ventured into film, having written ...
67. Yorgos Lanthimos
Director | The Lobster
Yorgos Lanthimos was born in Athens, Greece. He studied directing for Film and Television at the Stavrakos Film School in Athens. He has directed a number of dance videos in collaboration with Greek choreographers, in addition to TV commercials, music videos, short films and theater plays. Kinetta,...
68. 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 ...
69. Richard Linklater
Director | Waking Life
Self-taught writer-director Richard Stuart Linklater was born in Houston, Texas, to Diane Margaret (Krieger), who taught at a university, and Charles W. Linklater III. Richard was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. ...
70. Zoe Lister-Jones
Actress | Band Aid
Zoe Lister-Jones is an actor, writer, and producer who stars opposite Colin Hanks in Life in Pieces (2015) for CBS. She can also be seen in the HBO project Confirmation (2016) opposite Kerry Washington for director Rick Famuyiwa. Zoe wrote/executive produced/starred in the Fox Searchlight feature, ...
71. 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 ...
72. Karen Maine
Director | Yes, God, Yes
Karen Maine is known for Yes, God, Yes (2019), Obvious Child (2014) and Obvious Child (2009).
73. Terrence Malick
Writer | Days of Heaven
Terrence Malick was born in Ottawa, Illinois. His family subsequently lived in Oklahoma and he went to school in Austin, Texas. He did his undergraduate work at Harvard, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in philosophy in 1965.
A member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, he attended Magdalen ...
74. Nida Manzoor
Writer | Polite Society
Nida Manzoor is known for Polite Society (2023), We Are Lady Parts (2021) and Enterprice (2017).
75. Brit Marling
Writer | Another Earth
Brit Heyworth Marling was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Heidi (Johnson) and John Marling, both of whom work in real estate. She graduated from Georgetown University, with a bachelor's in economics, and was offered a job with Goldman Sachs, which she turned down in favour of a career as an artist.
...
76. Tom McCarthy
Writer | The Station Agent
Tom McCarthy is an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best known for direct and write The Station Agent (2003), The Visitor (2007), Win Win (2011), and Spotlight (2015), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Director.
McCarthy...
77. 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).
78. Adam McKay
Producer | Don't Look Up
Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American screenwriter, director, comedian, and actor. McKay has a comedy partnership with Will Ferrell, with whom he co-wrote the films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and The Other Guys. Ferrell and McKay also founded their comedy website Funny or Die through ...
79. Deepa Mehta
Director | Fire
Deepa Mehta is a transnational artist and a screenwriter, director, and producer whose work has been called "courageous", "provocative" and "breathtaking". Her visually lush and emotionally resonating films have played at every major international film festival; receiving numerous awards and ...
80. Mike Mills
Director | Beginners
Mike Mills was born in 1966, Berkeley, California. He graduated from Cooper Union, 1989.
He works as a filmmaker, graphic designer and artist. As a filmmaker, Mike has completed a number of music videos, commercials, short films, documentaries, and the feature film Thumbsucker (2005). Architecture ...
81. Michael Moore
Director | Bowling for Columbine
Michael Francis Moore was born in Flint, Michigan on April 23, 1954, and was raised in its Davison suburb. He is the son of Helen Veronica (Wall), a secretary, and Francis Richard Moore, who worked on an auto assembly line. He has Irish, as well as English and Scottish, ancestry.
Moore studied ...
82. Aaron Moorhead
Director | The Endless
Aaron Moorhead was born on December 17, 1987. He is a director and cinematographer, known for The Endless (2017), Spring (2014) and Synchronic (2019).
83. Natalie Morales
Actress | Parks and Recreation
Natalie Morales was born in Miami, Florida, and is of Cuban descent. She studied Theatre at Miami Dade College and Florida International University. In 2006, Natalie landed a guest star role on an episode of the CBS drama, CSI: Miami (2002): CSI: Miami: Darkroom (2006). In 2008, Natalie starred on ...
84. Andrew Neel
Director | King Kelly
Andrew Neel is known for King Kelly (2012), Goat (2016) and The Feature (2008).
85. 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 ...
86. Ruben Östlund
Director | Triangle of Sadness
Ruben Östlund was born on April 13, 1974 in Styrsö, Västra Götalands län, Sweden. He is a director and editor, known for Triangle of Sadness (2022), Force Majeure (2014) and The Square (2017). He was previously married to Andrea Östlund.
87. Jordan Peele
Writer | Nope
Jordan Peele is an Oscar- and Emmy-winning director, writer, actor, producer, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions. Peele's first feature film, "Get Out," was a critically acclaimed blockbuster, recognized with four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. The film would earn Peele the ...
88. Cooper Raiff
Actor | Cha Cha Real Smooth
Cooper Michael Raiff is an American filmmaker and actor. He has received critical acclaim for his films Shithouse (2020) and Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022). He appeared on the 2022 Variety list of directors to watch. A native of Dallas, Raiff attended the Greenhill School in Addison, Texas. He ...
89. Eran Riklis
Director | Etz Limon
Eran Riklis has been active in the movie world since 1975. After graduating from Beaconsfield National Film School in England, he made his first film in 1984, "On a clear Day you can see Damascus", a political thriller based on a true story. Seven years later, he shot "Cup Final", later hailed by ...
90. Boots Riley
Soundtrack | Sorry to Bother You
Boots Riley was born on April 1, 1971 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Sorry to Bother You (2018), I'm a Virgo (2023) and The Losers (2010).
91. Gillian Robespierre
Director | Obvious Child
Gillian Robespierre was born on June 29, 1978 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She is a director and writer, known for Obvious Child (2014), Landline (2017) and Untitled Divorce Comedy.
92. Seth Rogen
Producer | This Is the End
An actor, comedian and writer, Seth Rogen has come a long way from doing stand-up comedy as a teen.
Rogen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to Sandy (Belogus), a social worker, and Mark Rogen, who worked for non-profits. His father is American-born and his mother is Canadian. He is of Russian...
93. Anne Rosellini
Producer | Leave No Trace
Anne Rosellini is known for Leave No Trace (2018), Winter's Bone (2010) and Down to the Bone (2004).
94. Daniel Scheinert
Director | Everything Everywhere All at Once
Daniel Scheinert was born on June 7, 1987 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. He is a director and actor, known for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), Swiss Army Man (2016) and Foster the People: Houdini (2012).
95. 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 ...
96. Lynn Shelton
Director | Humpday
Two time Emmy-nominated actress and director Lynn Shelton fell ill and was taken to a Los Angeles, California hospital. During her medical examination it was found that she had been suffering, without diagnosis or any apparent symptoms, from acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood. She died ...
97. M. Night Shyamalan
Producer | Lady in the Water
Born in Puducherry, India, and raised in the posh suburban Penn Valley area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, M. Night Shyamalan is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional actor, known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots.
He is the son of Jayalakshmi, a Tamil ...
98. Sebastián Silva
Writer | Tyrel
Sebastián Silva was born on April 9, 1979 in Santiago, Metropolitan Region, Chile. He is a writer and director, known for Tyrel (2018), The Maid (2009) and Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus (2013).
99. Justin Simien
Writer | Dear White People
Justin Simien is known for Dear White People (2014), Dear White People (2017) and Bad Hair (2020).
100. Kevin Smith
Producer | Clerks
Kevin Patrick Smith was born in Red Bank but grew up in Highlands, New Jersey, the son of Grace (Schultz) and Donald E. Smith, a postal worker. He is very proud of his native state; this fact can be seen in all of his movies. Kevin is of mostly German, with some Irish and English, ancestry.
His ...
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