My Favorite Directors

1. Richard Linklater

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. ...

Before Sunrise - 10/10 Boyhood - 10/10 Dazed and Confuzed - 10/10 Before Midnight - 10/10 Waking Life - 7/10 Before Sunset - 7/10 School of Rock - 7/10 A Scanner Darkly - 7/10

2. 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 ...

No Country for Old Men - 10/10 Miller's Crossing - 10/10 The Big Lebowski - 9/10 Raising Arizona - 9/10 Barton Fink - 9/10 Inside Llewyn Davis - 9/10 Fargo - 9/10 True Grit - 8/10 O Brother, Where Art Thou? - 8/10 Blood Simple - 8/10 Burn After Reading - 7/10 A Serious Man - 7/10

3. 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...

No Country for Old Men - 10/10 Miller's Crossing - 10/10 The Big Lebowski - 9/10 Raising Arizona - 9/10 Barton Fink - 9/10 Inside Llewyn Davis - 9/10 Fargo - 9/10 True Grit - 8/10 O Brother, Where Art Thou? - 8/10 Blood Simple - 8/10 Burn After Reading - 7/10 A Serious Man - 7/10

4. 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...

Fight Club - 10/10 Gone Girl - 9/10 Se7en - 9/10 Zodiac - 8/10 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 8/10 The Social Network - 8/10 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 8/10 Panic Room - 7/10

5. 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 ...

Goodfellas - 10/10 Taxi Driver - 10/10 The Departed - 10/10 The Wolf of Wall Street - 8/10 Shutter Island - 8/10 Raging Bull - 7/10 Hugo - 7/10 King of Comedy - 7/10 New York Stories (segment "Life Lessons") - 7/10

6. 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 ...

Trainspotting - 10/10 Shallow Grave - 9/10 28 Days Later - 9/10 Trance - 8/10 Slumdog Millionaire - 8/10 127 Hours - 7/10

7. Christopher Nolan

Writer | Tenet

Best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear, storytelling, acclaimed Academy Award winner writer/director/producer Sir Christopher Nolan CBE was born in London, England. Over the course of more than 25 years of filmmaking, Nolan has gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the ...

The Dark Knight - 10/10 Memento - 9/10 Inception - 8/10 The Prestige - 8/10 Batman Begins - 8/10 The Dark Knight Rises - 7/10

8. 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 ...

The Godfather - 10/10 The Godfather: Part II - 10/10 The Godfather: Part III - 8/10 New York Stories (segment "Life without Zoe") - 7/10

9. 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 ...

Big Fish - 10/10 Ed Wood - 8/10 Corpse Bride - 8/10 Charlie and The Chocolate Factory - 7/10 Alice in Wonderland - 7/10 Mars Atacks - 6/10 Planet of The Apes - 6/10

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...

Inglourious Basterds - 10/10 Pulp Fiction - 10/10 Django - 9/10 Reservoir Dogs - 9/10 Kill Bill - 7/10 Death Proff - 7/10 Jackie Brown - 6/10

11. Fernando Meirelles

Director | The Constant Gardener

Fernando Meirelles was born in a middle class family in São Paulo City, Brazil.

He studied architecture at the university of São Paulo. At the same time he developed an interest in filmmaking. With a group of friends he started producing experimental videos and video art. They won a huge number of ...

Cidade de Deus - 10/10 Blindness - 7/10 Rio, I Love You (Segment) - 8/10 O Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias (Producer) - 7/10 Cidade dos Homens (Producer) - 7/10

12. Juan José Campanella

Writer | El secreto de sus ojos

Juan José Campanella was born on July 19, 1959 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a writer and director, known for The Secret in Their Eyes (2009), The Man of Your Dreams (2011) and The Weasel's Tale (2019).

El Secreto de Sus Ojos - 9/10 El Hijo de La Noiva - 9/10

13. 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 ...

Forrest Gump - 10/10 Back to The Future - 9/10 Back to The Future: Part II - 8/10 Who Framed Roger Rabbit - 8/10 Cast Away - 7/10 The Polar Express - 7/10 Beowulf - 6/10 A Christmas Carrol - 6/10

14. 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 ...

Zelig - 9/10 Annie Hall - 9/10 Midnight in Paris - 9/10 Love and Death - 9/10 Manhattan - 8/10 To Rome With Love - 8/10 New York Stories (segment "Oedipus Wrecks") - 7/10

15. 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 ...

A Clockwork Orange - 10/10 Dr Strangelove - 9/10 The Shinning - 9/10 Spartacus - 8/10 Full Metal Jacket - 8/10

16. Edgar Wright

Director | Shaun of the Dead

Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known for his comedic Three Flavours Cornetto film trilogy consisting of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013), made with recurrent collaborators Simon Pegg...

Scott Pilgrim x The World - 9/10 Shaun Of The Dead - 8/10 Hot Fuzz - 8/10

17. Guy Ritchie

Director | Sherlock Holmes

Guy Ritchie was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK on September 10, 1968. After watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) as a child, Guy realized that what he wanted to do was make films. He never attended film school, saying that the work of film school graduates was boring and ...

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels - 9/10 Snatch - 9/10 Sherlock Holmes - 8/10 Sherlock Holmes 2 - 6/10

18. Gore Verbinski

Director | Rango

Gore Verbinski, one of American cinema's most inventive directors who was a punk-rock guitarist as a teenager and had to sell his guitar to buy his first camera, is now the director of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) which made the industry record for highest opening weekend of ...

Rango - 9/10 Pirates of The Caribbean - 8/10 Pirates of The Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest - 8/10 Pirates of The Caribbean - At World's End - 7/10 Pirates of The Caribbean - On Stranges Tides - 7/10 The Ring - 7/10 Mousehunt - 6/10

19. 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 ...

The Shawshank Redemption - 10/10 Green Mile - 9/10

20. 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 ...

Collateral - 8/10 Public Enimies - 7/10

21. 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 ...

Psycho - 9/10 Rope - 9/10 Rear Window - 8/10

22. 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 ...

Modern Times - 10/10 City Lights - 7/10

23. 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...

Magnolia - 9/10 There Will Be Blood - 9/10

24. 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 ...

Gran Torino - 9/10 Invictus - 8/10 Letters From Iwo Jima - 7/10

25. 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 - 9/10 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - 8/10 Empire of The Sun - 8/10 Jaws - 8/10 Jurassic Park - 8/10 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial - 7/10 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - 7/10 The Terminal 7/10 The Advetures of Tintin - 7/10 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 7/10 War of The Worlds - 6/10

26. 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).

In Bruges - 9/10 Seven Psycopaths - 9/10

27. Ben Affleck

Producer | Argo

Benjamin Géza "Ben" Affleck-Boldt was born on August 15, 1972 in Berkeley, California and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to mother Chris Anne (Boldt), a school teacher, and father Timothy Byers "Tim" Affleck, a social worker. Ben has a younger brother, actor Casey Affleck, who was born in 1975...

Argo - 9/10 Gone, Baby, Gone - 8/10 The Town - 8/10

28. 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 ...

The Fantatic Mr Fox - 9/10 Moonrise Kingdom - 9/10 Rushmore - 8/10 The Darjeeling Limited - 6/10

29. 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 ...

Ocean's Eleven - 9/10 Ocean's Twelve - 7/10 Ocean's Thirteen - 7/10 Contagion - 7/10 Che: Part One - 7/10

30. 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 ...

Amadeus - 9/10 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - 8/10

31. Matthew Vaughn

Producer | Kick-Ass

Matthew Vaughn is an English film producer and director. He is known for producing such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000) and for directing the crime thriller, Layer Cake (2004), the fantasy epic, Stardust (2007), the superhero comedy, Kick-Ass (2010), and the ...

Kick-Ass - 9/10 X-Men: First Class - 8/10 Stardust - 7/10

32. 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 ...

12 Angry Men - 10/10 Dog Day Afternoon - 9/10

33. 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 ...

Being John Malkovich - 9/10 Where The Wild Things Are - 6/10

34. Terry George

Writer | Hotel Rwanda

Terry George was born on December 20, 1952 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for Hotel Rwanda (2004), In the Name of the Father (1993) and Some Mother's Son (1996). He has been married to Margaret Higgins since 1978. They have two children.

Hotel Ruanda - 9/10 In The Name of The Father (Producer) - 8/10

35. Bryan Singer

Director | X-Men

Bryan Singer is an American film director and producer who got his start writing and co-directing the short film Lions Den with his classmates while he attended USC. He was hired by 20th Century Fox to direct X-Men, which helped kick-start the superhero renaissance. He later directed three sequels....

The Usual Suspects - 10/10 X-Men - 7/10 X-Men 2 - 7/10 Valkyrie - 7/10 Superman Returns - 6/10

36. 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 ...

The Bucket List - 9/10 The Princess Bride - 8/10 This is Spinal Tap - 7,7/11 A Few Good Men - 7/10

37. 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 ...

Brazil - 9/10 12 Monkeys - 9/10 Monty Python and The Holy Grail - 8/10

38. 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, ...

Moulin Rouge! - 9/10 The Great Gatsby - 8/10 Australia - 6/10

39. Lilly Wachowski

Writer | The Matrix

Director, writer, and producer Lilly Wachowski was born in 1967 in Chicago, the daughter of Lynne, a nurse and painter, and Ron, a businessman. Lilly was educated at Kellogg Elementary School in Chicago, before moving on to Whitney M. Young High School. After graduating from high school, she ...

Cloud Atlas - 9/10 Matrix - 8/10 Matrix Reloaded - 7/10 Speed Racer - 7/10 Matrix Revolutions - 6/10

40. Michel Hazanavicius

Writer | The Artist

Michel Hazanavicius was born and raised in Paris, France. His grandparents were originally from Lithuania, but relocated to France in the 1920s. Hazanavicius attended art school, and moved on to work as a director for commercials and television projects. In 1999, he wrote and directed his first ...

The Artist - 10/10 OSS 177: Le Caire, nid d'espions - 7/10

41. Alan Parker

Director | Evita

The son of Elsie Ellen, a dressmaker, and William Leslie Parker, a house painter, Alan Parker was a London advertising copywriter in the 1960s and early 1970s with Collett Dickenson Pearce (CDP), an ad agency. He formed a partnership with David Puttnam as his producer (Puttnam had been a ...

Pink Floyd: The Wall - 8/10 Bugsy Malone - 8/10 Angel Heart - 7/10

42. 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 ...

Gladiator - 8/10 Blade Runner - 7/10 Matchstick Men - 7/10 Kingdom of Heaven - 7/10 Robin Hood - 6/10

43. Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Director | Un long dimanche de fiançailles

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a self-taught director who was very quickly interested by cinema, with a predilection for a fantastic cinema where form is as important as the subject. Thus he started directing TV commercials and video clips (such as Julien Clerc in 1984). At the same time he met designer/...

Amélie - 9/10 La cité des enfants perdus 8/10

44. Paul Greengrass

Director | United 93

Paul Greengrass started his filmmaking career with a super 8 camera he found in his art room in secondary school. Those short movies were animation horror films he made using old dolls, artist dummies, and the general art room clutter.

After studying in Cambridge University he got into Granada ...

The Bourne Ultimatum - 8/10 United 93 - 8/10 Green Zone - 6/10

45. Jason Reitman

Producer | Up in the Air

Jason Reitman is a Canadian filmmaker and producer who notably directed Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Juno, Thank You for Smoking, Up in the Air, Young Adult and Tully. He produced Chloe and Jennifer's Body, two films that advanced Amanda Seyfried's career for adult oriented roles. He is the son of Ivan...

Juno - 8/10 Thank You For Smoking - 8/10

46. David O. Russell

Director | American Hustle

David Owen Russell is an American film writer, director, and producer, known for a cinema of intense, tragi-comedic characters whose love of life can surpass dark circumstances faced in very specific worlds. His films address such themes as mental illness as stigma or hope; invention of self and ...

Silver Linings Playbook - 8/10 The Fighter - 7/10