Favorite Directors

1. Hayao Miyazaki

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 ...

Castle In the Sky (1986) Howl's Moving Castle (2004) Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) Spirited Away (2001) Princess Mononoke (1997) My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

2. 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 ...

Mulholland Drive (2001) Wild at Heart (1990) Blue Velvet (1986) Twin Peaks (1990-1991) Eraserhead (1977) The Elephant Man (1980)

3. 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 ...

The Shining (1980) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Lolita (1962) Eyes Wide Shut (1999) A Clockwork Orange (1971)

4. John Carpenter

Writer | The Fog

John Howard Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, to mother Milton Jean (Carter) and father Howard Ralph Carpenter. His family moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his father, a professor, was head of the music department at Western Kentucky University. He attended Western Kentucky ...

Halloween (1978) The Thing (1982) The Fog (1980) They Live (1988)

5. 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 ...

Death Becomes Her (1992) Contact (1997) Back to the Future (1985) The Witches (2020) Forrest Gump (1994)

6. Dario Argento

Writer | Profondo rosso

Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other ...

Suspiria (1977) Opera (1987) Phenomena (1985) Tenebre (1982) Inferno (1980) The Stendhal Syndrome (1996) Deep Red (1975)

7. 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, ...

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Schindler's List (1993) The Color Purple (1985) E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (1982) Jurassic Park (1993) Saving Private Ryan (1998) Jaws (1975)

8. Ti West

Director | Pearl

Ti West is most notable for directing horror films, as well as being an actor, writer, producer, and editor. Ti broke out, after directing various projects, in 2009, when he directed two feature films - 2009's The House Of The Devil and Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. Ti later directed, with his ...

9. 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. ...

Doctor Sleep (2019) Gerald's Game (2017) Hush (2016) Oculus (2013) Absentia (2011)

10. Agnès Varda

Director | Cléo de 5 à 7

Agnès Varda was born on May 30, 1928 in Ixelles, Belgium. She was a director and writer, known for Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Vagabond (1985) and Faces Places (2017). She was married to Jacques Demy. She died on March 29, 2019 in Paris, France.

Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) Vagabond (1985)

11. 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 ...

The Beguiled (2017) Marie Antoinette (2006) Lost In Translation (2003) The Virgin Suicides (1999)

12. 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 ...

Black Swan (2010) Mother! (2017) The Fountain (2006) Requiem for a Dream (2000) Pi (1998)

13. 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 ...

Rebecca (1940) Psycho (1960) Lifeboat (1944) Rear Window (1954) Dial M for Murder (1954) Vertigo (1958) The Birds (1963) Rope (1948)

14. 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)...

Insidious (2010) The Conjuring 2 (2016) The Conjuring (2013) Saw (2004) Dead Silence (2007)

15. 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...

Inglourious Basterds (2009) Django Unchained (2012) Kill Bill Vol. I & II (2003-2004) Death Proof (2007) The Hateful Eight (2015)

16. 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...

Panic Room (2002) Gone Girl (2014) Se7en (1995) Alien 3 (1992) Fight Club (1999) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

17. Karyn Kusama

Director | The Invitation

Karyn Kusama was born on March 21, 1968 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She is a director and producer, known for The Invitation (2015), Destroyer (2018) and Girlfight (2000). She has been married to Phil Hay since October 2006. They have one child.

XX: Her Only Living Son (2017) The Invitation (2015) Jennifer's Body (2009) Aeon Flux (2005)

18. 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 ...

Sunset Boulevard (1950) Double Indemnity (1944) Sabrina (1954) Some Like It Hot (1959) The Apartment (1960)

19. 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 ...

20. Anna Biller

Director | Viva

Anna Biller is a writer and director who creates unique, female-focused, highly visual films. She has a BA from UCLA in art and an MFA from CalArts in art and film. Her first feature Viva played in film festivals all over the world and gained minor cult status, and her second feature The Love Witch...

The Love Witch (2016) Viva (2007)

21. 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 ...

Lady Bird (2017) Little Women (2019) Barbie (2023)

22. Darren Stein

Director | Jawbreaker

Darren Stein was born on December 24, 1971 in California, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Jawbreaker (1999), G.B.F. (2013) and Sparkler (1997).

Jawbreaker (1999) G.B.F. (2013) Sparkler (1997) Color Me Olsen (2007)

23. Oz Perkins

Writer | February

Oz Perkins was born on February 2, 1974 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016) and Legally Blonde (2001).

The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015) I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives In the House (2016)

24. Johan Renck

Director | Chernobyl

Johan Renck is one of the most respected and sought after directors of commercials and music videos today, so much so that the French magazine CB News dubbed him "the number one director of commercials and music videos in the world".

His directing career started in 1992 when he joined the production...

Chernobyl (2019) Bates Motel (2013) Lana Del Rey: Blue Velvet (2012) Bat for Lashes: Daniel (2009) Madonna: Hung Up (2005) Madonna: Nothing Really Matters (1999)

25. 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 ...

26. Axelle Carolyn

Director | Tales of Halloween

Axelle Carolyn started out as a freelance reporter for some of the world's most prestigious film magazines and websites. Her non-fiction writing career culminated with the 2009 publication of her book 'Horror Movies In The New Millennium'. After a brief stint in front of the camera (most notably in...

The Manor (2021) Soulmate (2013) The Halloween Kid (2011)

27. Dorothy Arzner

Director | Christopher Strong

Dorothy Arzner, the only woman director during the "Golden Age" of Hollywood's studio system--from the 1920s to the early 1940s and the woman director with the largest oeuvre in Hollywood to this day--was born January 3, 1897 (some sources put the year as 1900), in San Francisco, California, to a ...

Merrily We Go to Hell (1932) Christopher Strong (1933) The Wild Party (1929) Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)

28. Sylvia Soska

Director | American Mary

Identical twins, writers, directors, actors, and even stunt players, the Soska sisters have always loved twisted film. Even at an early age, they devoured Stephen King novels, one after another as fast as they could read - and would sneak into the over 18 sections at video stores, to critique the ...

Rabid (2019) American Mary (2012)

29. Jen Soska

Actress | American Mary

Identical twins, writers, directors, actors even stunt players, the Soska sisters have always loved twisted film. Even at an early age, they devoured Stephen King novels, one after another as fast as they could read - and snuck into the over 18 sections at video stores, to critique the bloody ...

Rabid (2019) American Mary (2012)

30. Maya Deren

Director | Meshes of the Afternoon

Maya Deren came to the USA in 1922 as Eleanora Derenkowsky. Together with her father Solomon Derenkowsky, a psychiatrist, and her mother Maria Fidler, an artist, she fled the pogroms organized by the Bolsheviks against the Jews. She studied journalism and political science at the Syracuse ...

Meshes of the Afternoon (1946) At Land (1946)

31. Luca Guadagnino

Director | Call Me by Your Name

Luca Guadagnino was born on August 10, 1971 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He is a director and producer, known for Call Me by Your Name (2017), Suspiria (2018) and Bones and All (2022).

Suspiria (2018) Call Me By Your Name (2017)

32. Fede Alvarez

Writer | Don't Breathe

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

Don't Breathe (2016) Evil Dead (2013)

33. Robert Wise

Director | West Side Story

Robert Earl Wise was born on September 10, 1914 in Winchester, Indiana, the youngest of three sons of Olive R. (Longenecker) and Earl Waldo Wise, a meat packer. His parents were both of Pennsylvania Dutch (German) descent. At age nineteen, the avid moviegoer came into the film business through an ...

The Sound of Music (1965) The Haunting (1963) West Side Story (1961)

34. 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...

Pride & Prejudice (2005) Hanna (2011) Anna Karenina (2012) Atonement (2007)

35. 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 ...

Sweeney Todd (2007) Beetlejuice (1988) Ed Wood (1994) Big Eyes (2014) Edward Scissorhands (1990) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

36. Panos Cosmatos

Writer | Mandy

Panos Cosmatos is known for Mandy (2018), Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010) and Tombstone (1993).

37. Sam Raimi

Director | Spider-Man

Highly inventive U.S. film director/producer/writer/actor Sam Raimi first came to the attention of film fans with the savage, yet darkly humorous, low-budget horror film, The Evil Dead (1981). From his childhood, Raimi was a fan of the cinema and, before he was ten-years-old, he was out making ...

38. Jane Campion

Writer | Bright Star

Jane Campion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and now lives in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Having graduated with a BA in Anthropology from Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, and a BA, with a painting major, at Sydney College of the Arts in 1979, she began filmmaking in the early...

The Piano (1993) Peel (1986)

39. Kimberly Peirce

Director | Boys Don't Cry

Kimberly Peirce was born on September 8, 1967 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. She is a director and producer, known for Boys Don't Cry (1999), Stop-Loss (2008) and Carrie (2013).

Boys Don't Cry (1999) Carrie (2013)

40. Christopher Landon

Writer | Freaky

Christopher Landon was born on February 27, 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Freaky (2020), Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) and We Have a Ghost (2023).

41. David F. Sandberg

Director | Shazam!

David F. Sandberg is a Swedish film director from Jönköping who is known for directing the superhero comedy film Shazam and the horror films Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation. He lives on the autism spectrum. He also provided the voice of Mister Mind at the end of Shazam and made several short ...

Attic Panic (2015) Lights Out (2016) Coffer (2014) Annabelle Creation (2017) Lights Out (2013)

42. Lois Weber

Director | Suspense

Lois Weber, who had been a street-corner evangelist before entering motion pictures in 1905, became the first American woman movie director of note, and a major one at that. Herbert Blaché, the husband of Frenchwoman Alice Guy, the first woman to direct a motion picture (and arguably, the first ...

The Blot (1921) Suspense (1913) Where Are My Children? (1916)

43. Ida Lupino

Actress | High Sierra

Ida was born in London to a show business family. In 1932, her mother took Ida with her to an audition and Ida got the part her mother wanted. The picture was Her First Affaire (1932). Ida, a bleached blonde, went to Hollywood in 1934 playing small, insignificant parts. Peter Ibbetson (1935) was ...

The Bigamist (1953) Outrage (1950) On Dangerous Ground (1951)

44. Buster Keaton

Actor | The General

Joseph Frank Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine ...

The Navigator (1924) The Play House (1921) Seven Chances (1925) Sherlock Jr. (1924) The General (1926)