Most Influential Directors in Film History and Their Masterpieces.

101. Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini achieved fame and notoriety long before he entered the film industry. A published poet at 19, he had already written numerous novels and essays before his first screenplay in 1954. His first film Accattone (1961) was based on his own novel and its violent depiction of the life ...

6-6. Mamma Roma, Accattone, The Gospel According To St. Matthew, Oedipus Rex, Teorema, The Hawks and the Sparrows. Noteworthy: Love Meetings, Decameron, RoGoPaG.

102. Robert Siodmak

Director | Nachts wenn der Teufel kam

Robert Siodmak (8 August 1900 - 10 March 1973) was a German-born, American film director. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of stylish, unpretentious Hollywood films noirs he made in the 1940s.

Siodmak (pronounced SEE-ODD-MACK) was born in Dresden, Germany, the son of ...

6-5. The Killers, People On Sunday, Criss Cross, The Crimson Pirate, Phantom Lady, The Spiral Staircase. Noteworthy: The Suspect.

103. John Cassavetes

Actor | Rosemary's Baby

John Cassavetes was a Greek-American actor, film director, and screenwriter. He is considered a pioneer of American independent film, as he often financed his own films.

Cassavetes was born in New York City in 1929 to Nicholas John Cassavetes (1893-1979) and his wife, Katherine Demetre (1906-1983). ...

6-5. Love Streams, A Woman Under The Influence, Opening Night, Shadows, Faces, Gloria. Noteworthy: Minnie and Moskowitz, The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie, A Child Is Waiting, Too Late Blues.

104. 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.

6-4. The Truman Show, Picnic At Hanging Rock, Dead Poets Society, The Last Wave, Witness, Master and Commander. Noteworthy: Fearless, Gallipoli, The Year of Living Dangerously.

105. Lewis Milestone

Director | All Quiet on the Western Front

Lewis Milestone, a clothing manufacturer's son, was born in Bessarabia (now Moldova), raised in Odessa (Ukraine) and educated in Belgium and Berlin (where he studied engineering). He was fluent in both German and Russian and an avid reader. Milestone had an affinity for the theatre from an early ...

6-4. All Quiet On The Western Front, The Racket, Of Mice and Men, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Hallelujah I'm A Bum, A Walk In The Sun. Rain close masterpiece.

106. Carol Reed

Director | The Third Man

Carol Reed was the second son of stage actor, dramatics teacher and impresario founder of the Royal School of Dramatic Art Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. Reed was one of Tree's six illegitimate children with Beatrice Mae Pinney, who Tree established in a second household apart from his married life. ...

6-4. The Third Man, The Fallen Idol, Odd Man Out, The Way Ahead, Oliver!, Night Train To Munich. Noteworthy: Our Man In Havana, The Agony and the Ecstasy.

107. 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, ...

6-3. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Eat Drink Man Woman, Sense and Sensibility, Wedding Banquet, Life of Pi, Brokeback Mountain. Noteworthy: The Ice Storm.

108. 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 ...

6-3. Phantom of the Paradise, The Untouchables, Carlito's Way, Scarface, Blow Out, Carrie. Noteworthy: Dressed To Kill, Casualties of War.

109. Victor Fleming

Director | Gone with the Wind

Victor Fleming entered the film business as a stuntman in 1910, mainly doing stunt driving - which came easy to him, as he had been a mechanic and professional race-car driver. He became interested in working on the other side of the camera, and eventually got a job as a cameraman on many of the ...

6-3. The Wizard of Oz, Gone With The Wind, Captains Courageous, Red Dust, The Virginian, Bombshell.

110. Peter Greenaway

Director | The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Peter Greenaway trained as a painter and began working as a film editor for the Central Office of Information in 1965. Shortly afterwards he started to make his own films. He has produced a wealth of short and feature-length films, but also paintings, novels and other books. He has held several ...

6-3. The Draughtsman's Contract, Drowning By Numbers, The Cook The Thief and Her Lover, Rembrandt's J'Accuse, The Belly Of An Architect, The Falls. Noteworthy: A Zed And Two Noughts, The Baby of Macon.

111. Emir Kusturica

Director | Underground

A Serbian film director. Born in 1954 in Sarajevo. Graduated in film directing at the prestigious Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague in 1978. During his studies, he was awarded several times for his short movies including Guernica (1978), which took first prize at the Student's Film ...

6-2. Time of the Gypsies, When Father Was Away, Underground, Black Cat White Cat, Do You Remember Dolly Bell, Arizona Dream. Noteworthy: Life is A Miracle.

112. Marcel Carné

Director | Le quai des brumes

Marcel Carné, the son of a cabinet maker, entered the movies as the assistant of Jacques Feyder. At the age of 25 he directed his first movie Jenny (1936). Colaborating with the writer Jacques Prévert, the decorator Alexandre Trauner, the musician and composer Maurice Jaubert and the actor Jean ...

6-2. Children of Paradise, Port of Shadows, Les Visiteurs Du Soir, Hotel Du Nord, Le Jour Se Leve, Gates of the Night. Noteworthy: Drole De Drame, Therese Raquin.

113. Alexander Mackendrick

Writer | The Man in the White Suit

One of the most distinguished (if frequently overlooked) directors ever to emerge from the British film industry, Alexander Mackendrick, was in fact born in the US (to Scottish parents), but grew up in his native Scotland, where he studied at the Glasgow School of Art. He started out as a ...

6-2. Sweet Smell of Success, The Ladykillers, Whisky Galore, The Man In The White Suite, The Maggie, Crash of Silence.

114. 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 ...

6-2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Running Down A Dream, The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, What's Up Doc?, Mask, Targets. Noteworthy: Directed By John Ford.

115. Sergio Leone

Writer | Once Upon a Time in America

Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti (A.K.A. Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and U.S. directors working in ...

6-1. The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon A Time In The West, For A Few Dollars More, A Fistful of Dollars, Once Upon A Time In America, Duck You Sucker. Noteworthy: My Name Is Nobody.

116. Masaki Kobayashi

Director | Seppuku

Masaki Kobayashi was born on February 14, 1916 in Hokkaido, Japan. He was a director and writer, known for Harakiri (1962), Samurai Rebellion (1967) and The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961). He died on October 4, 1996 in Tokyo, Japan.

6-1. Harakiri, Samurai Rebellion, Human Condition 1-3, Kaidan. Black River close masterpiece.

117. Kore-eda Hirokazu

Director | Manbiki kazoku

Born in Tokyo in 1962. Originally intended to be a novelist, but after graduating from Waseda University in 1987 went on to become an assistant director at T.V. Man Union. Snuck off set to film Mou hitotsu no kyouiku - Ina shogakkou haru gumi no kiroku (1991). His first feature, Maborosi (1995), ...

6-1. Still Walking, Nobody Knows, Maborosi, After Life, I Wish, Like Father Like Son. Noteworthy: Distance.

118. Nick Morris

Director | The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall

Nick Morris is known for The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011), Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary (2010) and Alegria: Cirque du Soleil (2001).

6-0. The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert, Les Miserables In Concert: The 25th Anniversary, The Mighty Boosh Live, Cirque Du Soleil: Varekai, Cat Stevens: Majikat, Cirque Du Soleil: Alegria.

119. Chris Marker

Writer | 12 Monkeys

Chris Marker was born on July 29, 1921 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He was a writer and director, known for 12 Monkeys (1995), Sans Soleil (1983) and Third Side of the Coin (1960). He died on July 29, 2012 in Paris, France.

6-0. La Jetee, One Day In The Life of Andrei Arsenevitch, Sans Soleil, Grin Without a Cat, The Case of the Grinning Cat, Remembrance of Things to Come.

120. Claude Chabrol

Director | Le beau Serge

Claude Chabrol was born on June 24, 1930 in Paris, France. He was a director and writer, known for Le Beau Serge (1958), La Cérémonie (1995) and Story of Women (1988). He was married to Aurore Chabrol, Stéphane Audran and Agnès Goute. He died on September 12, 2010 in Paris, France.

5-12.

121. Kinji Fukasaku

Director | Batoru rowaiaru

Kinji Fukasaku was born on July 3, 1930 in Mito, Japan. He was a director and writer, known for Battle Royale (2000), Fall Guy (1982) and Crest of Betrayal (1994). He was married to Sanae Nakahara. He died on January 12, 2003 in Tokyo, Japan.

5-11.

122. Robert Aldrich

Director | Emperor of the North Pole

Robert Aldrich entered the film industry in 1941 when he got a job as a production clerk at RKO Radio Pictures. He soon worked his way up to script clerk, then became an assistant director, a production manager and an associate producer. He began writing and directing for TV series in the early ...

5-10. The Dirty Dozen, What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, Kiss Me Deadly, Hush..Hush Sweet Charlotte, The Flight of the Phoenix. Noteworthy: Emperor of the North, Twilight's Last Gleaming, Attack, The Killing of Sister George, The Longest Yard.

123. King Vidor

Director | War and Peace

King Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter of Hungarian descent. He was born in Galveston, Texas to lumberman Charles Shelton Vidor and his wife Kate Wallis. King's paternal grandfather Károly (Charles) Vidor had fled Hungary as a refugee following the failed ...

5-9. The Big Parade, The Crowd, Show People, Northwest Passage, Stella Dallas. Noteworthy: The Champ, Our Daily Bread, La Boheme, The Fountainhead.

124. 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 ...

5-9.

125. Kenji Misumi

Director | Shogun Assassin

Kenji Misumi was born on March 2, 1921 in Kyoto, Japan. Misumi was the illegitimate child of a geisha mother and originally wanted to be a painter, but his father disapproved. Kenji attended Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan. During this time Misumi met future Daiei studio head Kan Kikuchi, ...

5-8. Tale of Zatoichi, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx, LWC: Baby Cart In The Land of Demons, LWC: Baby Cart To Hades, LWC: Sword of Vengeance. Samaritan Zatoichi close masterpiece.

126. Jacques Rivette

Director | La Belle Noiseuse

Although François Truffaut has written that the New Wave began "thanks to Rivette," the films of this masterful French director are not well known. Rivette, like his "Cahiers du Cinéma" colleagues Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and Éric Rohmer, did graduate to filmmaking but, like Rohmer...

5-8.

127. Hsiao-Hsien Hou

Producer | Cike Nie Yin Niang

Of the ten films that Hsiao-Hsien Hou directed between 1980 and 1989, seven received best film or best director awards from prestigious international films festivals in Venice, Berlin, Hawaii, and the Festival of the Three Continents in Nantes. In a 1988 worldwide critics' poll, Hou was championed ...

5-7. Dust In The Wind, A City of Sadness, The Puppetmaster, A Summer at Grandpa's, A Time To Live a Time To Die. Noteworthy: Flowers of Shanghai, Café Lumiere, and Goodbye South Goodbye.

128. Mamoru Oshii

Director | Kôkaku kidôtai

Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director and screenwriter. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura (1981-1984), Angel's Egg (1985), Patlabor: The Movie (1989), Ghost in the Shell (1995), and Ghost in ...

5-6. Ghost In The Shell, Ghost In The Shell 2.0, Uresei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Angel's Egg, Patlabor 2. Noteworthy: Patlabor, Red Spectacles.

129. Guy Maddin

Director | The Heart of the World

Guy Maddin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to Herdis Maddin (a hair-dresser) and Charles "Chas" Maddin (grain clerk and general manager of the Maroons, a Winnipeg hockey team). Maddin studied economics at the University of Winnipeg, working as a bank manager, house painter, and photographic...

5-6. The Heart of the World, Cowards Bend The Knee Or The Blue Hands, My Winnipeg, Brand Upon The Brain, My Dad is 100 Years Old. Noteworthy: Dracula: Pages From A Virgin's Diary, Careful, The Saddest Music In The World.

130. Kon Ichikawa

Director | Inugami-ke no ichizoku

Kon Ichikawa has been influenced by artists as diverse as Walt Disney and Jean Renoir, and his films cover a wide spectrum of moods, from the comic to the overwhelmingly ironic and even the perverse. Ichikawa began his career as a cartoonist, and this influence is apparent in his skillful use of ...

5-5. Fires On The Plain, Tokyo Olympiad, Burmese Harp, An Actor's Revenge, The Makioka Sisters.

131. 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 ...

5-5. Midnight Express, The Commitments, Birdy, Mississippi Burning, Pink Floyd: The Wall. Angel Heart, Shoot the Moon, and Bugsy Malone all close masterpieces.

132. 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 ...

5-5. Amadeus, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Taking Off, Loves of A Blonde, The Firemen's Ball. Noteworthy: The People Vs. Larry Flynt and Hair.

133. 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 ...

5-5. LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring, LOTR: 2 Towers, LOTR: Return of the King, Forgotten Silver, Heavenly Creatures. Noteworthy: The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, Dead Alive.

134. Norman Jewison

Director | Jesus Christ Superstar

Norman Jewison was an award-winning, internationally acclaimed filmmaker who produced and directed some of the world's most memorable, entertaining and socially important films, exploring controversial and complicated subjects and giving them a universal accessibility. Some of his most well-known ...

5-5. In The Heat Of The Night, Fiddler On The Roof, Moonstruck, A Soldiers Story, The Hurricane. Noteworthy: The Cincinnati Kid, And Justice For All, The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming, The Thrill of It All.

135. Nikita Mikhalkov

Actor | 12

Nikita Mikhalkov is the son of the famous communist poet Sergey Mikhalkov, who wrote the lyrics of the Soviet national anthem and had strong connections to the Communist Party. Nikita Mikhalkov's mother, Natalya Petrovna Konchalovskaya, was also a poet and daughter of famous painter Pyotr Petrovich...

5-5.

136. John Woo

Director | Ying hung boon sik

Born in southern China, John Woo grew up in Hong Kong, where he began his film career as an assistant director in 1969, working for Shaw Brothers Studios. He directed his first feature in 1973 and has been a prolific director ever since, working in a wide variety of genres before A Better Tomorrow ...

5-4. The Killer, Hard Boiled, Bullet In The Head, A Better Tomorrow, Face/Off. Red Cliff 1+2, ABT 2 close masterpieces.

137. Jacques Tourneur

Director | Cat People

Born in Paris in 1904, Tourneur went to Hollywood with his father, director Maurice Tourneur around 1913. He started out as a script clerk and editor for his father, then graduated to such jobs as directing shorts (often with the pseudonym Jack Turner), both in France and America. He was hired to ...

5-4

138. 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 ...

5-4. Alien, Blade Runner, The Duellists, Thelma And Louise, American Gangster. Black Hawk Down and Gladiator close masterpieces.

139. Costa-Gavras

Director | Z

Costa-Gavras was born on February 12, 1933 in Loutra-Iraias, Greece. He is a director and writer, known for Z (1969), Missing (1982) and Amen. (2002). He has been married to Michèle Ray-Gavras since 1968. They have two children.

5-4. Z, Special Section, Missing, State of Siege, The Confession. The Sleeping Car Murders, Le Couperet, and Eden Is West are close masterpieces.

140. F.W. Murnau

Director | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

F.W. Murnau was a German film director. He was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at the age of 12, and became a friend of director Max Reinhardt. During World War I he served as a company commander at the eastern front and was in the German air ...

5-3. Sunrise, The Last Laugh, Nosferatu, Faust, Tabu. Noteworthy: City Girl, Burning Soil, Tartuffe.

141. Rouben Mamoulian

Director | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Rouben Mamoulian was born on October 8, 1897 in Tiflis, Russian Empire [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia]. He was a director and writer, known for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Applause (1929) and Becky Sharp (1935). He was married to Catharine Azadia Newman. He died on December 4, 1987 in ...

5-3. Queen Christina, Love Me Tonight, The Mark of Zorro, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Blood and Sand.

142. 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.

5-3. Cleo From 5 To 7, Vagabond, The Beaches of Agnes, The Gleaners and I, Daguerreotypes. Le Beonheur close masterpiece.

143. Henri-Georges Clouzot

Writer | Le salaire de la peur

Beginning his film career as a screenwriter, Henri-Georges Clouzot switched over to directing and in 1943 had the distinction of having his film The Raven (1943) banned by both the German forces occupying France and the Free French forces fighting them, but for different reasons. He shot to ...

5-3. The Wages of Fear, Les Diaboliques, Quai Des Orfevres, Le Corbeau, The Truth.

144. 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 ...

5-3. Stand By Me, This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, Misery, When Harry Met Sally. The Sure Thing close masterpiece.

145. 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 ...

5-3. The Dark Knight, Memento, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Batman Begins. Noteworthy: The Prestige, Insomnia, Following.

146. Leo McCarey

Director | An Affair to Remember

Leo McCarey was born on October 3, 1896 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a director and writer, known for An Affair to Remember (1957), Going My Way (1944) and Love Affair (1939). He was married to Virginia Stella Martin. He died on July 5, 1969 in Santa Monica, California, USA.

5-3. Make Way For Tomorrow, Ruggles of Red Gap, Duck Soup, The Awful Truth, The Bells of St. Mary's.

147. Kar-Wai Wong

Director | Yi dai zong shi

Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1956) is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylised, emotionally resonant work, including Ah fei zing zyun (1990), Dung che sai duk (1994), Chung Hing sam lam (1994), Do lok tin si (1995), Chun gwong ...

5-3. Days of Being Wild, In The Mood For Love, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, 2046. Noteworthy: Happy Together.

148. Mark Sandrich

Director | Shall We Dance

Mark Sandrich was born on October 26, 1900 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Shall We Dance (1937), Holiday Inn (1942) and Melody Cruise (1933). He was married to Freda Wirtschafter. He died on March 4, 1945 in Hollywood, California, USA.

5-3. Top Hat, Holiday Inn, The Gay Divorcee, Shall We Dance, So Proudly We Hail. Noteworthy: Here Comes The Waves, Follow The Fleet.

149. George Roy Hill

Director | The Sting

George Roy Hill was never able to 'hit it off' with the critics despite the fact that 2 of his films - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and The Sting (1973) - had remained among the top 10 box office hits by 1976. His work was frequently derided as 'impersonal' or lacking in stylistic ...

5-3. The Sting, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Slap Shot, A Little Romance, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Noteworthy: The World According to Garp.

150. Chris Hegedus

Director | Startup.com

Chris has directed, shot, and edited documentaries for over forty years including the Oscar-nominated film The War Room. She received a DGA Award for Startup.com, Emmy awards for Elaine Stritch at Liberty, and an Emmy-nomination for Unlocking the Cage. Other feature credits include Moon Over ...

5-3. Elaine Stritch: At Liberty, Jimi Plays Monterey, Depeche Mode: 101, The War Room, Down From The Mountain. Noteworthy: Town Bloody Hall, Startup.Com.

151. 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 ...

5-2. Grand Budapest Hotel, Rushmore, Moonrise Kingdom, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Royal Tenenbaums. Noteworthy: Bottle Rocket.

152. Carl Theodor Dreyer

Writer | Gertrud

The illegitimate son of a Danish farmer and his Swedish housekeeper, Carl Theodor Dreyer was born in Copenhagen on the 3th of February, 1889. He spent his early years in various foster homes before being adopted by the Dreyers at the age of two. Contrary to popular belief (perhaps nourished by the ...

5-2. Passion of Joan of Arc, Day of Wrath, Ordet, Vampyr, The Parson's Widow.

153. Claude Berri

Writer | Jean de Florette

Claude Berri was born on July 1, 1934 in Paris, France. He was a producer and actor, known for Jean de Florette (1986), Germinal (1993) and The Two of Us (1967). He was married to Sylvie Gautrelet and Anne-Marie Rassam. He died on January 12, 2009 in Paris, France.

5-2. Jean De Florette, The Two of Us, Manon of the Spring, Hunting and Gathering, Tchao Pantin.

154. Mitchell Leisen

Director | Death Takes a Holiday

Mitchell Leisen was born on October 6, 1898 in Menominee, Michigan, USA. He was a director and art director, known for Death Takes a Holiday (1934), The Mating Season (1951) and Hold Back the Dawn (1941). He was married to Stella Yeager. He died on October 28, 1972 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, ...

5-2. Remember The Night, Midnight, Easy Living, Hold Back The Dawn, To Each His Own.

155. 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 ...

5-2. The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead, The Straight Story.

156. 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...

5-2. Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Django Unchained, Kill Bill 2, Inglorious Basterds. Kill Bill close masterpiece.

157. 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...

5-2. The Social Network, Fight Club, Seven, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Zodiac. Noteworthy: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

158. Fatih Akin

Director | Aus dem Nichts

Fatih Akin was born in 1973 in Hamburg of Turkish parentage. He began studying Visual Communications at Hamburg's College of Fine Arts in 1994. His collaboration with Wueste Film also dates from this time. In 1995, he wrote and directed his first short feature, "Sensin - You're The One!" ("Sensin -...

5-2. The Edge of Heaven, Head-On, In July, Crossing The Bridge, Solino. Noteworthy: Short Sharp Shock.

159. Béla Tarr

Producer | Werckmeister harmóniák

Béla Tarr was born on July 21, 1955 in Pécs, Hungary. He is a producer and director, known for Werckmeister Harmonies (2000), The Turin Horse (2011) and Satantango (1994). He is married to Ágnes Hranitzky.

5-2. Satantango, Werckmeister Harmonies, Damnation, The Prefab People, Almanac of Fall. Noteworthy: The Turin Horse.

160. 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 ...

5-2. The Insider, Heat, The Last of the Mohicans, Thief, Manhunter. Noteworthy: The Jericho Mile, Collateral.

161. Julien Temple

Director | Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan

Julien Temple was born on November 26, 1953 in London, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan (2020), Vigo (1998) and Earth Girls Are Easy (1988).

5-1.

162. Peter Yates

Director | Krull

Having seen Robbery (1967) and Bullitt (1968), it comes as no surprise that Peter Yates started out as a professional racing car driver and team manager - albeit briefly - before turning his attention to film. The son of a military man, he was educated at Charterhouse School and trained at RADA, ...

5-1. The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Dresser, Breaking Away, Bullitt, Eleni. Noteworthy: Robbery.

163. Majid Majidi

Writer | Bacheha-Ye aseman

Majid Majidi was born on April 17, 1959 in Tehran, Iran to a middle class family. He started acting in amateur theater groups at the age of fourteen. After receiving his high school diploma, he started studying art at the Institute of Dramatic Art in Tehran. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, ...

5-1. Children of Heaven, The Color of Paradise, The Song of Sparrows, Baran, The Father. Noteworthy: The Willow Tree.

164. 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 ...

5-1. The French Connection, Boys In The Band, 12 Angry Men, The Exorcist, To Live and Die In L.A. Noteworthy: Sorcerer.

165. James Whale

Director | Bride of Frankenstein

James Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his four classic horror films: Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). He also directed films in other genres, including what is ...

5-1. Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Show Boat, The Old Dark House.

166. Bryan Forbes

Actor | The Guns of Navarone

Bryan Forbes was born on July 22, 1926 in Stratford, London, England as John Theobald Clarke. He was an actor, writer, and director, known for The Guns of Navarone (1961), The Whisperers (1967) and Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964). He was married to Nanette Newman and Constance Smith. He died on ...

5-1. Whistle Down The Wind, King Rat, The L-Shaped Room, Séance On A Wet Afternoon, The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella. Noteworthy: The Wrong Box.

167. Edward Yang

Writer | Yi yi

Born on November 6, 1947 in Shanghai, China, Edward Yang has become one of the most talented international filmmakers of his generation. Along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming-Liang, Yang ranks among the leading artists of the Taiwanese New Wave, and one of the world's most brilliant auteurs. ...

5-1.

168. Jacques Tati

Writer | Playtime

The comic genius Jacques Tati was born Taticheff, descended from a noble Russian family. His grandfather, Count Dimitri, had been a general in the Imperial Army and had served as military attaché to the Russian Embassy in Paris. His father, Emmanuel Taticheff, was a well-to-do picture framer who ...

5-0. Play Time, M. Hulot's Holiday, Mon Oncle, Jour De Fete, Trafic.

169. Steve James

Director | Hoop Dreams

Steve James was born in Hampton, Virginia, USA. He has been based in Chicago, Illinois, USA for his entire career. He is known for the documentary films Hoop Dreams (1994), Stevie (2002), The Interrupters (2011), Life Itself (2014) and Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2016). His documentary series ...

5-0. Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters, At The Death House Door, Stevie, Head Games.

170. 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 ...

5-0. Captain Phillips, The Bourne Ultimatum, Bloody Sunday, United 93, The Bourne Supremacy.

171. Alfonso Cuarón

Producer | Gravity

Alfonso Cuarón Orozco was born on November 28th 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico. From an early age, he yearned to be either a film director or an astronaut. However, he did not want to enter the army, so he settled for directing. He didn't receive his first camera until his twelfth birthday, and then ...

5-0. Gravity, A Little Princess, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

172. Mikhail Kalatozov

Director | Letyat zhuravli

Mikhail Kalatozov was born on December 28, 1903 in Tiflis, Russian Empire [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia]. He was a director and cinematographer, known for The Cranes Are Flying (1957), True Friends (1954) and Zagovor obrechyonnykh (1950). He died on March 27, 1973 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now ...

5-0.

173. Sammo Kam-Bo Hung

Stunts | Ip Man

Born in Hong Kong, Sammo Hung's acting career began while he was training in acrobatics, martial arts and dance as a child at the China Drama Academy, and he received acclaim for his performance with a troupe called "The Seven Little Fortunes." He made his feature film debut as an actor at the age ...

4-9. The Prodigal Son, Knockabout, Warriors Two, Magnificent Butcher. Noteworthy: Spooky Encounters, Carry On Pickpocket, The Victim, Iron Fisted Monk, Shanghai Express, Eastern Condors, Dragons Forever, Wheels on Meals.

174. Yash Chopra

Producer | Veer-Zaara

Labeled the eternal romantic and with one of the best musical senses in the business, Yash Chopra is arguably India's most successful director of romantic films. Although he made action-oriented films like the ever-popular Deewaar (1975), it is in tackling love and its various aspects that he has ...

4-9. Deewaar, Trishul, Lamhe, Silsila. Noteworthy: Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Waqt, Kabhi Kabhie, Veer Zaara, Darr, Dil To Pagal Hai.

175. 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 ...

4-8. Traffic, King of the Hill, Sex Lies and Videotape, Out of Sight. Noteworthy: Behind The Candelabra, The Limey, Ocean's Eleven, Erin Brockovich, And Everything Is Going Fine, Side Effects.

176. Aleksandr Sokurov

Director | Russkiy kovcheg

He was born with a disability because of an anatomic defect of his leg, in 1951 in Podorvikha village in Siberian Russia. His father was a Red Army veteran of WW2. One of most important contemporary filmmakers, Sokurov worked extensively in television and later graduated from the prestigious film ...

4-8. Mother and Son, Russian Ark, The Sun, Spiritual Voices. Noteworthy: Days Of Eclipse, Alexandra, Taurus.

177. Johnnie To

Director | Hak se wooi

With over thirty directing and producing credits to his name, Johnnie To enjoyed international breakthroughs with Election (2005), Election 2 (2006) (aka "Triad Election") and Exiled (2006); those films enjoyed multiple international film festival appearances and were separately sold to more than ...

4-8.

178. Chia-Liang Liu

Actor | Jui kuen II

Chia-Liang Liu was born on August 1, 1936 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. He was an actor and director, known for Drunken Master II (1994), Legendary Weapons of China (1982) and My Young Auntie (1981). He was married to Jing-Jing Yung and Hsiu-Hsia Ho. He died on June 25, 2013 in Hong Kong, China.

4-7. Heroes of the East, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, The Legend of the Drunken Master, Challenge of the Masters. Noteworthy: The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, My Young Auntie.

179. 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 ...

4-6. Diner, The Natural, Rain Man, Good Morning Vietnam. Noteworthy: You Don't Know Jack, Avalon, Liberty Heights, Wag The Dog, Bugsy.

180. 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 ...

4-6.

181. Volker Schlöndorff

Director | Die Blechtrommel

Has studied economy and political sciences as well as at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographique (IDHEC) in Paris, France. Worked as an assistant director with Louis Malle, Jean-Pierre Melville and Alain Resnais. Founded his own production company Bioskop Film together with Reinhard Hauff ...

4-5.

182. Hark Tsui

Producer | Di Renjie zhi Tongtian diguo

Tsui Hark recently became the fourth Chinese film director to join the board of judges for the 57th Cannes Film Festival in the feature films category this year.

An internationally acclaimed visionary director, Tsui started making experimental movies with 8mm film when he was only 13. After ...

4-5. Once Upon A Time In China 2, Once Upon A Time In China, Don't Play With Fire, Peking Opera Blues. Noteworthy: The Blade, Butterfly Lovers, Warriors From The Magic Mountain.

183. 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 ...

4-5. Rush, Frost/Nixon, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind. Noteworthy: Cinderella Man, Parenthood.

184. Herbert Ross

Director | The Turning Point

Herbert Ross was born on May 13, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Turning Point (1977), The Goodbye Girl (1977) and The Secret of My Success (1987). He was married to Lee Radziwill and Nora Kaye. He died on October 9, 2001 in New York ...

4-5. Play It Again Sam, The Last Of Sheila, The Goodbye Girl, Goodbye Mr. Chips. Noteworthy: Steel Magnolias, The Sunshine Boys.

185. Robert Mulligan

Director | To Kill a Mockingbird

Robert Mulligan was born on August 23, 1925 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Summer of '42 (1971) and The Other (1972). He was married to Sandy Levy and Jane Sutherland. He died on December 20, 2008 in Lyme, ...

4-5. To Kill A Mockingbird, The Man In The Moon, Love With The Proper Stranger, The Great Impostor. Noteworthy: Come September, Fear Strikes Out, The Other.

186. Dino Risi

Director | Il sorpasso

Dino Risi became a movie director by chance. In 1940 he met Alberto Lattuada at a friend's boutique. Lattuada told him they needed an assistant director for the movie Piccolo mondo antico (1941). Risi accepted just for fun, not for work. Later, he became a psychiatrist and wrote some articles for a...

4-5. The Easy Life, A Difficult Life, 15 From Rome, Scent of A Woman. Noteworthy: The Forbidden Room.

187. Henry Hathaway

Director | True Grit

Henry Hathaway, son of a stage actress and manager, started his career as a child actor in westerns directed by Allan Dwan. His movie career was interrupted by World War I. After his discharge he briefly tried a career in finance but returned to Hollywood to work as an assistant director under such...

4-4. The Sons of Katie Elder, True Grit, Fourteen Hours, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer. The Dark Corner and Kiss of Death close masterpieces.

188. Agnieszka Holland

Director | Pokot

Having graduated from FAMU in Prague film (1971), Agnieszka Holland returned to Poland and began her film career working with Krzysztof Zanussi as assistant director, and Andrzej Wajda as her mentor. Her first feature film was PROVINCIAL ACTORS (1978), one of the flagship pictures of the "cinema of...

4-4. Europa Europa, Kobieta Samotna, Olivier Olivier, A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story. In Darkness and the Secret Garden close masterpieces.

189. 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 ...

4-4. Aliens, The Terminator, Terminator 2, Avatar. Noteworthy: The Abyss, Titanic.

190. William Dieterle

Actor | Faust: Eine deutsche Volkssage

Born in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Wilhelm Dieterle was the youngest of nine children of parents Jacob and Berthe Dieterle. They lived in poverty, and when he was old enough to work, young Wilhelm earned money as a carpenter and a scrap dealer. He dreamed of better things, though, and theater caught ...

4-4.

191. Sydney Pollack

Director | Tootsie

Sydney Pollack was an Academy Award-winning director, producer, actor, writer and public figure, who directed and produced over 40 films.

Sydney Irwin Pollack was born July 1, 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana, USA, to Rebecca (Miller), a homemaker, and David Pollack, a professional boxer turned pharmacist...

4-4.

192. Richard Brooks

Writer | In Cold Blood

Richard Brooks was an Academy Award-winning film writer who also earned six Oscar nominations and achieved success as a film director and producer.

He was born Reuben Sax on May 18, 1912, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants. He graduated from West Philadelphia ...

4-4. Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Elmer Gantry, In Cold Blood, The Professionals. Noteworthy: Blackboard Jungle.

193. Richard Lester

Director | A Hard Day's Night

Richard Lester was one of the most influential directors of the 1960s, and continued his career into the 1970s and early '80s. He is best remembered for the two films he helmed starring The Beatles: A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965), the frenetic cutting style of which was seen by many as ...

4-4.

194. Robert Stevenson

Director | Mary Poppins

Robert Stevenson was born on March 31, 1905 in Buxton, Derbyshire, England, UK. He was a director and writer, known for Mary Poppins (1964), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) and Nine Days a Queen (1936). He was married to Ursula Henderson, Frances Holyoke Howard, Anna Lee and Cecilie L Leslie. He ...

4-4. Mary Poppins, Jane Eyre, Old Yeller, Darby O'Gill and the Little People. Noteworthy: That Darn Cat!

195. Tom Hooper

Director | Cats

Tom Hooper was educated at one of England's most prestigious schools, Westminster. His first film, Runaway Dog, was made when he was 13 years old and shot on a Clockwork 16mm Bolex camera, using 100 feet of film. At age 18, he wrote, directed and produced the short film Painted Faces (1992), which ...

4-3. The King's Speech, Longford, The Damned United, ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre: Prime Suspect 6. Noteworthy: Daniel Deronda, Elizabeth I, John Adams.

196. Jirí Menzel

Director | Ostrzhe sledované vlaky

Jirí Menzel was born on February 23, 1938 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor and director, known for Closely Watched Trains (1966), I Served the King of England (2006) and Larks on a String (1969). He was married to Olga Menzelová-Kelymanová. He died on September 5, ...

4-3.

197. Francesco Rosi

Writer | Cadaveri eccellenti

His father was a shipowner. After school, Rosi initially began studying law, which he soon dropped out to work as a broadcast journalist and book illustrator in Naples. From 1944 to 1945 he worked for "Radio Napoli". In the immediate post-war years, Rosi moved to Rome, where he came into contact ...

4-3. Illustrious Corpses, Carmen, The Moment of Truth, Hands Over The City. Noteworthy: Salvatore Giuliano, The Mattei Affair, Christ Stopped At Eboli.

198. 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 ...

4-3.

199. Kenneth Branagh

Actor | Henry V

Kenneth Charles Branagh was born on December 10, 1960, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to parents William Branagh, a plumber and carpenter, and Frances (Harper), both born in 1930. He has two siblings, William Branagh, Jr. (born 1955) and Joyce Branagh (born 1970). When he was nine, his family ...

4-3. Henry V, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midwinter's Tale.

200. Alexander Payne

Director | Nebraska

Director, producer and screenwriter Alexander Payne was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents, Peggy (Constantine) and George Payne, ran a Greek restaurant. His father is of Greek and German ancestry, and his mother is of Greek descent; the family name was originally Papadopoulos. He is the youngest...

4-2. Nebraska, Sideways, Election, The Descendants. Noteworthy: About Schmidt.