Favourite Directors

1. Steven Spielberg

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, ...

1. Schindler's List 2. Indiana Jones 1-3 3. Saving Private Ryan 4. AI 5. ET 6. Close Encounters of the Third Kind 7. Minority Report 8. Jaws 9. Jurassic Park 10. The Post 11. Munich 12. West Side Story 13. Amistad 14. Catch Me If You Can 15. The Terminal 16. Bridge of Spies 17. The Fabelmans 18. The Colour Purple 19. Lincoln 20. Duel 21. Ready Player One 22. The BFG 23. Always 24. Hook 25. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 26. The Sugarland Express 27. Jurassic Park: The Lost World 28. War Horse 29. The Adventures of Tintin 30. 1941

2. 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 ...

1. Raging Bull 2. Casino 3. The Departed 4. The Last Temptation of Christ 5. Goodfellas 6. Mean Streets 7. The Irishman 8. Taxi Driver 9. Gangs of New York 10. After Hours 11. The Aviator 12. The Wolf of Wall Street 13. The Age of Innocence 14. Shutter Island 15. Kundun 16. Cape Fear 17. The King of Comedy 18. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore 19. Bringing Out The Dead 20. Hugo 21. Killers of the Flower Moon 22. New York, New York 23. The Color Of Money 24. Silence 25. Who's That Knocking At My Door? 26. Boxcar Bertha

3. 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 ...

1. North By Northwest 2. Psycho 3. Vertigo 4. Rear Window 5. Strangers On A Train 6. Dial M For Murder 7. Notorious 8. The Man Who New Too Much 9. Rebecca 10. Spellbound The 39 Steps, The Birds, Family Plot, Frenzy, Rope, The Lady Vanishes, Shadow of a Doubt, Stage Fright, Suspicion, To Catch a Thief, The Trouble With Harry, The Wrong Man

4. 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 ...

1. Dr. Strangelove 2. 2001: A Space Odyssey 3. Spartacus 4. The Killing 5. Lolita 6. Paths of Glory 7. The Shining 8. Barry Lyndon 9. A Clockwork Orange 10. Full Metal Jacket 11. Eyes Wide Shut 12. Killer's Kiss 13. Fear and Desire

5. 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 ...

1. Double Indemnity 2. Sunset BLVD 3. The Apartment 4. Sabrina 5. Some Like It Hot 6. The Spirit of St. Louis 7. Witness to the Prosecution 8. The Lost Weekend 9. The Seven Year Itch 10. Ace in The Hole

6. Clint Eastwood

Actor | Million Dollar Baby

Clint Eastwood was born May 31, 1930 in San Francisco, to Clinton Eastwood Sr., a bond salesman and later manufacturing executive for Georgia-Pacific Corporation, and Ruth Wood (née Margret Ruth Runner), a housewife turned IBM clerk. He grew up in nearby Piedmont. At school Clint took interest in ...

1. Million Dollar Baby 2. Letters From Iwo Jima 3. Flags Of Our Fathers 4. Unforgiven 5. Changeling 6. A Perfect World 7. Mystic River 8. Sully 9. Absolute Power 10. Bridges of Madison County Escape From Alcatraz, Gran Torino, Heartbreak Ridge, Jersey Boys, The Mule, The Outlaw Josie Wales, Pale Rider, Richard Jewell, Sudden Impact

7. Woody Allen

Writer | Annie Hall

Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister, Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.

Allen ...

1. Hannah and Her Sisters 2. Annie Hall 3. Manhattan 4. Crimes & Misdemeanours 5. Midnight in Paris 6. The Purple Rose of Cairo 7. Deconstructing Harry 8. Love & Death 9. Bananas 10. Bullets Over Broadway Another Woman, Blue Jasmine, Everyone Says I Love You, Match Point, Play It Again Sam, Sleeper, Vicky Christina Barcelona.

8. Robert Altman

Director | Gosford Park

Robert Altman was born on February 20th, 1925 in Kansas City, Missouri, to B.C. (an insurance salesman) and Helen Altman. He entered St. Peters Catholic school at the age six, and spent a short time at a Catholic high school. From there, he went to Rockhurst High School. It was then that he started...

1. Nashville 2. The Player 3. Short Cuts 4. McCabe & Mrs. Miller 5. 3 Women 6. Gosford Park 7. The Long Goodbye 8. Cookie's Fortune 9. M*A*S*H 10. Secret Honour Brewster McCloud, Come Back to the 5 and Dime Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean, The Gingerbread Man, Images, Kansas City, A Prairie Home Companion

9. Oliver Stone

Director | JFK

Oliver Stone has become known as a master of controversial subjects and a legendary film maker. His films are filled with a variety of film angles and styles, he pushes his actors to give Oscar-worthy performances, and despite his failures, has always returned to success.

William Oliver Stone was ...

1. JFK 2. Nixon 3. Natural Born Killers 4. Platoon 5. Born on the 4th of July 6. The Doors 7. Any Given Sunday 8. Wall Street

10. 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...

1. Pulp Fiction 2. Inglorious Basterds 3. Django Unchained 4. Kill Bill 1&2 5. Reservoir Dogs 6. Jackie Brown 7. Hateful Eight 8. Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood 9. Death Proof

11. 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 ...

1. Fargo 2. The Big Lebowski 3. Blood Simple. 4. The Man Who Wasn’t There 5. Inside Llewyn Davis 6. Barton Fink 7. No Country For Old Men 8. O Brother, Where Art Thou? 9. Miller's Crossing 10. A Serious Man Hail Caesar!, Raising Arizona

12. 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...

1. Fargo 2. The Big Lebowski 3. Blood Simple. 4. The Man Who Wasn’t There 5. Inside Llewyn Davis 6. Barton Fink 7. No Country For Old Men 8. O Brother, Where Art Thou? 9. Miller's Crossing 10. A Serious Man Hail Caesar!, Raising Arizona

13. Ingmar Bergman

Writer | Smultronstället

Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born July 14, 1918, the son of a priest. The film and T.V. series, The Best Intentions (1992) is biographical and shows the early marriage of his parents. The film Sunday's Children (1992) depicts a bicycle journey with his father. In the miniseries Private Confessions (...

1. Fanny and Alexander 2. Scenes From a Marriage 3. Cries & Whispers 4. Autumn Sonata 5. Persona 6. Saraband 7. The Virgin Spring 8. The Seventh Seal 9. Shame 10. Wild Strawberries

14. Steven Soderbergh

Director | Sex, Lies, and Videotape

Steven Andrew Soderbergh was born on January 14, 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, the second of six children of Mary Ann (Bernard) and Peter Soderbergh. His father was of Swedish and Irish descent, and his mother was of Italian ancestry. While he was still at a very young age, his family moved to ...

1. Traffic 2. King of the Hill 3. Ocean's Eleven 4. Out of Sight 5. Bubble 6. Erin Brockovich 7. Contagion 8. Logan Lucky 9. No Sudden Move 10. Unsane

15. 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 ...

1. The Royal Tenenbaums 2. Fantastic Mr. Fox 3. Moonrise Kingdom 4. The Grand Budapest Hotel 5. The Darjeeling Limited 6. Rushmore 7. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou 8. The French Dispatch 9. Bottle Rocket 10. Isle Of Dogs 11. Astroid City

16. 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 ...

1. Young Frankenstein 2. Silent Movie 3. High Anxiety 4. Dracula: Dead and Loving It 5. Spaceballs 6. Blazing Saddles 7. The Producers 8. Robin Hood: Men In Tights 8. History of the World Part 1 10. The Twelve Chairs

17. 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...

1. Fight Club 2. The Social Network 3. The Game 4. Zodiac 5. Gone Girl 6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 7. Alien 3 8. Se7en 9. Panic Room 10. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo 11. Mank 12. The Killer

18. Howard Hawks

Director | Red River

What do the classic films Scarface (1932), Twentieth Century (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sergeant York (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Rio Bravo (1959) have in...

1. Rio Bravo 2. El Dorado 3. His Girl Friday 4. Scarface 5. To Have and Have Not 6. Red River 7. The Big Sleep 8. Bringing Up Baby 9. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 10. Monkey Business

19. John Ford

Director | The Quiet Man

John Ford came to Hollywood following one of his brothers, an actor. Asked what brought him to Hollywood, he replied "the train". He became one of the most respected directors in the business, in spite of being known for his westerns, which were not considered "serious" film. He won six Oscars, ...

1. The Searchers 2. Mister Roberts 3. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 4. How Green Was My Valley 5. The Grapes of Wrath 6. My Darling Clementine 7. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

20. Ron Howard

Producer | Arrested Development

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard is one of this generation's most popular directors. From the critically acclaimed dramas A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Apollo 13 (1995) to the hit comedies Parenthood (1989) and Splash (1983), he has created some of Hollywood's most memorable films.

Howard ...

1. A Beautiful Mind 2. Apollo 13 3. Cinderella Man 4. Frost/Nixon 5. Rush 6. How The Grinch Stole Christmas 7. Willow 8. Ransom 9. Backdraft 10. The Dilemma

21. Barry Levinson

Director | Rain Man

Barry Lee Levinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Violet (Krichinsky) and Irvin Levinson, who worked in furniture and appliance. He is of Russian Jewish descent. Levinson graduated from high school in 1960, attended college at American University in Washington, DC. He did well, but decided he ...

1. Rain Man 2. The Natural 3. Wag the Dog 4. Good Morning, Vietnam 5. Diner 6. Bugsy 7. Avalon 8. Sleepers 9. You Don't Know Jack

22. Brian De Palma

Director | Body Double

Brian De Palma is one of the well-known directors who spear-headed the new movement in Hollywood during the 1970s. He is known for his many films that go from violent pictures, to Hitchcock-like thrillers. Born on September 11, 1940, De Palma was born in Newark, New Jersey in an Italian-American ...

1. Blow-Out 2. Casualties of War 3. Scarface 4. The Untouchables 5. Carlito's Way 6. Carrie 7. Body Double 8. Snake Eyes 9. Dressed to Kill

23. 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 ...

1. Spirited Away 2. Princess Mononoke 3. My Neighbor Totoro 4. Howl’s Moving Castle 5. Ponyo 6. Castle In The Sky 7. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind 8. Porco Rosso

24. Joel Schumacher

Director | The Phantom of the Opera

Joel Schumacher was an American film director, film producer, screenwriter and fashion designer from New York City. He rose to fame in the 1980s for directing the coming-of-age drama "St. Elmo's Fire" (1985), and the vampire-themed horror film "The Lost Boys" (1987). In the 1990s, he worked on two ...

1. The Lost Boys 2. 8mm 3. Phone Booth 4. The Client 5. A Time To Kill 6. Batman Forever 7. Falling Down

25. 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 ...

1. Memento 2. Inception 3. Interstellar 4. Oppenheimer 5. Batman Begins 6. Dunkirk 7. The Prestige 8. Insomnia

26. 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 ...

1. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2. King Kong 3. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 4. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 5. Braindead 6. The Hobbit 7. Get Back

27. 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...

1. There Will Be Blood 2. Boogie Nights 3. Magnolia 4. Punch-Drunk Love 5. The Master 6. Licorice Pizza 7. Hard Eight 8. Phantom Thread 9. Inherent Vice

28. 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 ...

1. Desperado 2. El Mariachi 3. Sin City 4. Once Upon a Time in Mexico 5. Machete 6. From Dusk Till Dawn 7. Spy Kids

29. John Huston

Director | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

An eccentric rebel of epic proportions, this Hollywood titan reigned supreme as director, screenwriter and character actor in a career that endured over five decades. The ten-time Oscar-nominated legend was born John Marcellus Huston in Nevada, Missouri, on August 5, 1906. His ancestry was English,...

1. Treasure of the Sierra Madre 2. The Man Who Would Be King 3. The Maltese Falcon 4. Key Largo 5. The African Queen 6. Annie 7. Moulin Rouge 8. Moby Dick

30. Rob Reiner

Actor | All in the Family

Robert Reiner was born in New York City, to Estelle Reiner (née Lebost) and Emmy-winning actor, comedian, writer, and producer Carl Reiner.

As a child, his father was his role model, as Carl Reiner created and starred in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Estelle was also an inspiration for him to become a ...

1. Stand By Me 2. Misery 3. A Few Good Men 4. The Princess Bride 5. This Is Spinal Tap 6. The American President 7. When Harry Met Sally...

31. Peter Farrelly

Producer | Green Book

Peter Farrelly was born on December 17, 1956 in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Green Book (2018), There's Something About Mary (1998) and Dumb and Dumber (1994). He has been married to Melinda Farrelly since December 31, 1996. They have two children.

1. Dumb & Dumber 2. There's Something About Mary 3. Kingpin 4. Dumb & Dumber To 5. Green Book 6. Me, Myself & Irene 7. Stuck On You

32. Bobby Farrelly

Producer | There's Something About Mary

Bobby Farrelly was born on June 17, 1958 in Cumberland, Rhode Island, USA. He is a producer and director, known for There's Something About Mary (1998), Osmosis Jones (2001) and Me, Myself & Irene (2000). He has been married to Nancy Farrelly since 1990. They have two children.

1. Dumb & Dumber 2. There's Something About Mary 3. Kingpin 4. Me, Myself & Irene 5. Dumb & Dumber To 6. Stuck On You

33. 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 ...

1. 12 Angry Men 2. Dog Day Afternoon 3. The Verdict 4. Serpico 5. Prince of the City 6. Network 7. Before The Devil Knows You're Dead 8. Running On Empty 9. Deathtrap

34. Francis Ford Coppola

Producer | Apocalypse Now

Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer and musician. His mother, Italia Coppola (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated ...

1. The Godfather 2. The Godfather Part II 3. Apocalypse Now 4. The Conversation 5. Peggy Sue Got Married 6. The Cotton Club 7. The Godfather Part III 8. The Outsiders 9. The Rainmaker

35. Milos Forman

Director | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Milos Forman was born Jan Tomas Forman in Caslav, Czechoslovakia, to Anna (Svabova), who ran a summer hotel, and Rudolf Forman, a professor. During World War II, his parents were taken away by the Nazis, after being accused of participating in the underground resistance. His father died in ...

1. Amadeus 2. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest 3. Ragtime 4. Man on the Moon 5. The People vs Larry Flint

36. 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 ...

1. Alien 2. American Gangster 3. The Martian 4. Thelma & Louise 5. Gladiator 6. Black Rain 7. Blade Runner 8. Black Hawk Down 9. All The Money In The World 10. Body of Lies Prometheus

37. 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 ...

1. Titanic 2. Aliens 3. T2 4. The Terminator 5. True Lies 6. Avatar 7. The Abyss

38. 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 ...

1. The Pianist 2. Chinatown 3. Rosemary's Baby 4. The Ghost Writer 5. Frantic

39. Charles Chaplin

Writer | The Great Dictator

Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...

1. City Lights 2. The Kid 3. Modern Times 4. Limelight 5. The Gold Rush 6. The Great Dictator 7. his shorts

40. 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...

1. Ran 2. Seven Samurai 3. Ikiru 4. Rashamon 5. Yojimbo 6. High and Low 7. Kagemusha 8. Red Beard

41. Cameron Crowe

Writer | Almost Famous

Certainly idiosyncratic as a writer, Cameron Crowe has created a series of scripts that, while liked by the critics, were considered offbeat and difficult to market.

Cameron Bruce Crowe was born in Palm Springs, California, to Alice Marie Crowe (née George), a teacher and activist, and James A. ...

1. Almost Famous 2. Vanilla Sky 3. Say Anything... 4. Jerry Maguire 5. Singles

42. Ang Lee

Director | Wo hu cang long

Born in 1954 in Pingtung, Taiwan, Ang Lee has become one of today's greatest contemporary filmmakers. Ang graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then came to the U.S. to receive a B.F.A. Degree in Theatre/Theater Direction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ...

1. The Ice Storm 2. Life of Pi 3. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 4. Brokeback Mountain 5. Sense & Sensibility 6. Ride With The Devil

43. 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 ...

1. Do The Right Thing 2. Malcolm X 3. 25th Hour 4. BlacKkKlansman 5. Da 5 Bloods 6. Clockers

44. 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...

1. The Last Samurai 2. Legends of the Fall 3. Pawn Sacrifice 4. Glory

45. 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 ...

1. The Thin Red Line 2. The Tree of Life 3. Days of Heaven 4. Badlands 5. The New World

46. Peter Bogdanovich

Director | The Last Picture Show

Peter Bogdanovich was conceived in Europe but born in Kingston, New York. He is the son of immigrants fleeing the Nazis, Herma (Robinson) and Borislav Bogdanovich, a painter and pianist. His father was a Serbian Orthodox Christian, and his mother was from a wealthy Austrian Jewish family. Peter ...

1. Paper Moon 2. The Last Picture Show 3. Mask 4. Nickelodeon 5. What's Up, Doc? 6. Targets 7. Texasville

47. Michael Curtiz

Director | Casablanca

Curtiz began acting in and then directing films in his native Hungary in 1912. After WWI, he continued his filmmaking career in Austria and Germany and into the early 1920s when he directed films in other countries in Europe. Moving to the US in 1926, he started making films in Hollywood for Warner...

1. Casablanca 2. Yankee Doodle Dandy 3. Angels With Dirty Faces 4. Jimmy The Gent

48. 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 ...

1. The Insider 2. Heat 3. The Last of the Mohicans 4. Manhunter 5. Collateral 6. Thief 7. Miami Vice

49. 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. ...

1. School of Rock 2. 'Before' trilogy 3. Apollo 10 1/2 4. Dazed & Confused 5. A Scanner Darkly 6. Me and Orson Welles 7. Waking Life

50. 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 ...

1. Silence of the Lambs 2. Rachel Getting Married 3. Philadelphia 4. Melvin & Howard 5. Something Wild 6. Beloved

51. Peter Weir

Director | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Peter Weir was born on August 21, 1944 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is a director and writer, known for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), The Way Back (2010) and Witness (1985). He has been married to Wendy Stites since 1966. They have two children.

1. The Truman Show 2. Master & Commander 3. Dead Poets Society 4. Witness 5. Fearless

52. Kathryn Bigelow

Director | Zero Dark Thirty

A very talented painter, Kathryn spent two years at the San Francisco Art Institute. At 20, she won a scholarship to the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program. She was given a studio in a former Offtrack Betting building, literally in an old bank vault, where she made art and waited to be ...

1. Strange Days 2. The Hurt Locker 3. Zero Dark Thirty 4. Detroit 5. Near Dark

53. William Friedkin

Director | To Live and Die in L.A.

Friedkin's mother was an operating room nurse. His father was a merchant seaman, semi-pro softball player and ultimately sold clothes in a men's discount chain. Ultimately, his father never earned more than $50/week in his whole life and died indigent. Eventually young Will became infatuated with ...

1. The Exorcist 2. The French Connection 3. To Live and Die in LA 4. 12 Angry Men

54. Elia Kazan

Director | On the Waterfront

Known for his creative stage direction, Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazantzoglou on September 7, 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He ...

1. On The Waterfront 2. East of Eden 3. A Streetcar Named Desire 4. Viva Zapata!

55. Frank Capra

Director | It's a Wonderful Life

One of seven children, Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, in Bisacquino, Sicily. On May 10, 1903, his family left for America aboard the ship Germania, arriving in New York on May 23rd. "There's no ventilation, and it stinks like hell. They're all miserable. It's the most degrading place you ...

1. It's A Wonderful Life 2. Arsenic and Old Lace 3. It Happened One Night 4. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington 5. Meet John Doe

56. Baz Luhrmann

Writer | Moulin Rouge!

Baz Luhrmann is an Australian writer, director and producer with projects spanning film, television, opera, theater, music and recording industries. He is regarded by many as a contemporary example of an auteur for his distinctly recognizable style and deep involvement in the writing, directing, ...

1. Moulin Rouge! 2. Romeo + Juliet 3. The Great Gatsby 4. Strictly Ballroom

57. Frank Darabont

Writer | The Shawshank Redemption

Three-time Oscar nominee Frank Darabont was born in a refugee camp in 1959 in Montbeliard, France, the son of Hungarian parents who had fled Budapest during the failed 1956 Hungarian revolution. Brought to America as an infant, he settled with his family in Los Angeles and attended Hollywood High ...

1. The Shawshank Redemption 2. The Green Mile 3. The Majestic

58. Orson Welles

Actor | Citizen Kane

His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...

1. Citizen Kane 2. Touch of Evil 3. The Stranger 4. Othello 5. Chimes At Midnight

59. Mike Leigh

Director | Secrets & Lies

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

1. Secrets & Lies 2. Vera Drake 3. Topsy-Turvy 4. Naked 5. Life Is Sweet

60. Pedro Almodóvar

Writer | Hable con ella

The most internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker since Luis Buñuel was born in a small town (Calzada de Calatrava) in the impoverished Spanish region of La Mancha. He arrived in Madrid in 1968, and survived by selling used items in the flea-market called El Rastro. Almodóvar couldn't study ...

1. Talk To Her 2. Bad Education 3. All About My Mother 4. Volver 5. Pain and Glory

61. 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 ...

1. Birdman 2. The Revenant 3. 21 Grams 4. Amores Perros 5. Babel

62. 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 ...

1. The Elephant Man 2. The Straight Story 3. Mulholland Drive 4. Eraserhead

63. David Cronenberg

Actor | The Fly

David Cronenberg, also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of Blood, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1943. His father, Milton Cronenberg, was a journalist and editor, and his mother, Esther (Sumberg), was a piano player. After showing an inclination for literature at an early...

1. M. Butterfly 2. A History Of Violence 3. Dead Ringers 4. The Fly 5. Videodrome