Writer/Director
by griffineyes | created - 19 Dec 2016 | updated - 2 months ago | Public
1. Gareth Edwards
Visual_effects | Monsters
Gareth James Edwards was born on June 1, 1975 in the English town of Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Growing up, he admired movies such as the 1977 classic "Star Wars", and went on to pursue a film career. He even cites George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as his biggest influences. Edwards studied BA (Hons) ...
2. 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).
3. Dee Rees
Director | Mudbound
Writer/Director Dee Rees is an alumna of New York University's graduate film program and a Sundance Screenwriting & Directing Lab Fellow.
In 2018, Dee became the first Black woman nominated for an Oscar in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for her highly-acclaimed film Mudbound (2017). The film, ...
4. 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 ...
5. 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).
6. James Gunn
Writer | Guardians of the Galaxy
James Gunn was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, to Leota and James Francis Gunn. He is from a large Catholic family, with Irish and Czech ancestry. His father and his uncles were all lawyers. He has been writing and performing as long as he can remember. He began making 8mm films at the age ...
7. Tarell Alvin McCraney
Writer | Moonlight
Tarell Alvin McCraney was born on October 17, 1980 in Liberty City, Miami, Florida, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Moonlight (2016), David Makes Man (2019) and High Flying Bird (2019).
8. Sylvester Stallone
Actor | Rocky
Sylvester Stallone is an athletically built, dark-haired American actor/screenwriter/director/producer, the movie fans worldwide have been flocking to see Stallone's films for over 40 years, making "Sly" one of Hollywood's biggest-ever box office draws.
Sylvester Stallone was born on July 6, 1946, ...
9. Sylvester Stallone
Actor | Rocky
Sylvester Stallone is an athletically built, dark-haired American actor/screenwriter/director/producer, the movie fans worldwide have been flocking to see Stallone's films for over 40 years, making "Sly" one of Hollywood's biggest-ever box office draws.
Sylvester Stallone was born on July 6, 1946, ...
10. 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. ...
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 ...
12. Jeff Nichols
Writer | Take Shelter
Jeff Nichols was born on December 7, 1978 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Take Shelter (2011), Mud (2012) and Midnight Special (2016).
13. Louis C.K.
Writer | Louie
Louis C.K. was born on September 12, 1967 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Louie (2010), American Hustle (2013) and Horace and Pete (2016). He was previously married to Alix Bailey.
14. Maria Wilson
Actress | Venefica
Maria Wilson was born and raised in Arlington, Virginia. She attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts (Experimental Theater Wing), where she received her BFA in Drama. Maria Wilson is an actress, known for her roles in We Kid (2013) and See You Next Tuesday (2013). In 2016, Maria ...
15. Donald Glover
Actor | Solo: A Star Wars Story
The multi-talented Donald Glover is a writer, actor, musician, comedian, producer and director, who performs under the stage names Childish Gambino and mcDJ. He was born Donald McKinley Glover at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and was raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia. His mother, Beverly (...
16. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Director | Daratt
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was born in 1961 in Abéché, Chad. He is a director and writer, known for Dry Season (2006), A Screaming Man (2010) and Our Father (2002).
17. Eli Craig
Director | Tucker and Dale vs Evil
Eli Craig was born on May 25, 1972 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010), Little Evil (2017) and The Tao of Pong (2004). He has been married to Sasha Craig since September 5, 2004. They have one child.
18. Terence Nance
Terence Nance was born in Dallas, Texas in what was then referred to as the State-Thomas community. Nance learned person-hood there. Nance's first feature film, An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically in 2013. Nance's most ...
19. Cauleen Smith
Director | Drylongso
Cauleen Smith was born in Riverside, California and grew up in the Sacramento area. She completed her B.A. at San Francisco State University in 1991 and her M.F.A. in Film at UCLA in 1998. Her feature length film Drylongso received a lot of attention after its showing at the Sundance Film Festival....
20. Nic Pizzolatto
Writer | True Detective
A producer, writer, director and award-winning novelist. He is the author of the collection 'Between Here and the Yellow Sea' and the novel 'Galveston.' He is originally from Southwest Louisiana, and taught literature at several universities, including the University of Chicago, before going into ...
21. 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 ...
22. Melina Matsoukas
Director | Queen & Slim
Melina Matsoukas was born on January 14, 1981. She is a director and producer, known for Queen & Slim (2019), Insecure (2016) and Beyoncé: Formation (2016).
23. Roxann Dawson
Director | Breakthrough
Roxann Dawson was born in Los Angeles, California, to Richard and Rosalie Caballero. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley (Theater Arts major). She soon landed her first role as Diana Morales in the Broadway production of "A Chorus Line". During her acting career, she performed...
24. Tatiana Huezo
Director | El eco
Tatiana Huezo was born on January 9, 1972 in San Salvador, El Salvador. She is a director and cinematographer, known for The Echo (2023), Prayers for the Stolen (2021) and El lugar más pequeño (2011).
25. Jee-woon Kim
Director | Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom
Kim Ji-woon was born in Seoul, South Korea. He began his career as an actor before becoming a stage director with productions such as "Hot Sea" in 1994 and "Movie, Movie" in 1995. He then began scripting for films, his first work, 97's "Wonderful Seasons" won Best Screenplay award at Korea's ...
26. Mati Diop
Director | Atlantique
Mati Diop was born on June 22, 1982 in Paris, France. She is an actress and director, known for Atlantics (2019), A Thousand Suns (2013) and Dahomey (2024).
27. Khalik Allah
Director | Black Mother
Khalik Allah is known for Black Mother (2018), Field Niggas (2015) and Antonyms of Beauty (2013).
28. 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 ...
29. Jon Favreau
Producer | Chef
Initially an indie film favorite, actor Jon Favreau has progressed to strong mainstream visibility into the millennium and, after nearly two decades in the business, is still enjoying character stardom as well as earning notice as a writer/producer/director.
The amiable, husky-framed actor with the ...
30. Taika Waititi
Producer | What We Do in the Shadows
Taika Waititi, also known as Taika Cohen, hails from the Raukokore region of the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand, and is the son of Robin (Cohen), a teacher, and Taika Waititi, an artist and farmer. His father is Maori (Te-Whanau-a-Apanui), and his mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish, Irish...
31. Goran Stolevski
Director | Domakinstvo za Pocetnici
Goran Stolevski was born and grew up in North Macedonia before migrating to Australia as a teenager. He completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts at the University of Melbourne and a Masters in Film and Television at the Victorian College of the Arts. He won the Ruben Mamoulian Best Director Award at ...
32. Rodo Sayagues
Producer | Don't Breathe
Rodo Sayagues is known for Don't Breathe (2016), Don't Breathe 2 (2021) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022).
33. Rob Zombie
Writer | Grindhouse
Robert Bartleh Cummings, more famously known as Rob Zombie, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts on January 12, 1965. He is the oldest son of Louise and Robert Cummings, and has a younger brother, Michael David (aka Spider One; b. 1968), who is the lead singer of Powerman 5000. Growing up, Zombie ...
34. 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)...
35. Eli Roth
Producer | Thanksgiving
Eli Raphael Roth was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Cora (Bialis), a painter, and Sheldon H. Roth, a psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and clinical professor. His family is Jewish (from Austria, Hungary, Russia, and Poland). He began shooting Super 8 films at the age of eight; after watching Ridley ...
36. Greg McLean
Director | Wolf Creek
After training as a fine artist before working as a director in Theatre and Opera, Australian writer, director, and producer Greg McLean's filmmaking career began when he wrote and directed the horror smash hit 'Wolf Creek.' The film played at the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals before going ...
37. Neil Marshall
Director | Dog Soldiers
Neil Marshall was born on May 25, 1970 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK. He is a producer and director, known for Dog Soldiers (2002), The Descent (2005) and Doomsday (2008). He was previously married to Axelle Carolyn.
38. Leigh Whannell
Actor | Saw
Leigh Whannell grew up in Melbourne, Australia, where, at the age of four, he developed an obsession with telling stories. Whether it be through acting, writing or filmmaking, his primary love was getting a reaction from an audience. In 1995, at the age of 18, he was accepted into the Royal ...
39. Darren Lynn Bousman
Director | Repo! The Genetic Opera
Darren Lynn Bousman was born on January 11, 1979 in Overland Park, Kansas, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008), Saw II (2005) and Abattoir (2016). He has been married to Laura Bousman since January 2, 2010. They have two children.
40. 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, ...
41. Scott Cooper
Director | Crazy Heart
Scott Cooper was born on April 20, 1970 in Abingdon, Virginia, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Crazy Heart (2009), Hostiles (2017) and Out of the Furnace (2013).
42. 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 ...
43. Sacha Jenkins
Producer | Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
Sacha Jenkins is known for Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues (2022), Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men (2019) and Word Is Bond (2018). He is married to Raquel Cepeda. They have two children.
44. Jonathan Demme
Director | The Silence of the Lambs
Jonathan Demme was born on February 22, 1944 in Baldwin, Long Island, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Philadelphia (1993). He was married to Joanne Howard and Evelyn Purcell. He died on April 26, 2017 in ...
45. David Ayer
Producer | End of Watch
David Ayer is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. David Ayer was born in Champaign, Illinois and grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota, and Bethesda, Maryland, where he was kicked out of his house by his parents as a teenager. Ayer then lived with his cousin in Los Angeles, ...
46. Juel Taylor
Writer | They Cloned Tyrone
Juel Taylor was born on May 1, 1987 in Tuskegee, Alabama, USA. He is a writer and director, known for They Cloned Tyrone (2023), Creed II (2018) and Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021).
47. Pedro Costa
Director | Cavalo Dinheiro
Pedro Costa was born on December 30, 1958 in Lisbon, Portugal. He is a director and writer, known for Horse Money (2014), Vitalina Varela (2019) and Colossal Youth (2006).
48. John David Washington
Actor | Tenet
John David Washington is an American actor, producer, and former professional football player. He played college football at Morehouse College and signed with the St. Louis Rams as an Undrafted free agent in 2006. Professionally, Washington spent four years as the running back for the United ...
49. Demián Rugna
Writer | Cuando acecha la maldad
Demián Rugna was born on September 13, 1979 in Haedo, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a writer and editor, known for When Evil Lurks (2023), Terrified (2017) and The Last Gateway (2007).
50. Jeymes Samuel
Soundtrack | The Harder They Fall
Jeymes Samuel, also known as The Bullitts, is an English writer, director, singer-songwriter and music producer from London.
In 2013 Jeymes worked alongside Baz Luhrmann and Jay Z on the music for the blockbuster The Great Gatsby. Jeymes served as the film's Executive Music Consultant.
2013 also saw ...
51. Lily Gladstone
Actress | Certain Women
Born in Montana, Gladstone was raised on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and later near Seattle, WA. She graduated with high honors from the University of Montana in 2008 with a BFA in Acting/Directing, and a minor in Native American Studies.
Gladstone was introduced to audiences in Alex and Andrew...
52. 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 ...
53. Fradique
Director | Ar Condicionado
Fradique is an Angolan filmmaker, notable as the director of the critically acclaimed films "Independência" (2015) and "Air Conditioner" (2020).
Fradique's stories are grounded in the subtleties of dystopian worlds built between science fiction and magic realism. His themes often focus on memory, ...
54. Rob Jabbaz
Writer | Ku bei
Rob Jabbaz is a Canadian Filmmaker known for writing and directing "The Sadness" (2021) Rob is a self-taught animator and has created several fully-animated short films, as well as music videos and commercials. Although, Rob was born and raised in Mississauga, Canada, The majority of his early work...
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