The Best Directors
by Movieman4950 | created - 04 Jul 2015 | updated - 31 Jan 2017 | Public
1. 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, ...
For his work on (in date order): Duel (1971) Jaws (1975) Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom (1984) Empire of the Sun (1987) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Hook (1991) Jurassic Park (1993) The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) Minority Report (2002) Catch Me If You Can (2002) The Terminal (2004) War of the Worlds (2005) The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn (2011) Bridge Of Spies (2015)
2. 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 ...
For his work on: Memento (2000) Insomnia (2002) Batman Begins (2005) The Prestige (2006) The Dark Knight (2008) Inception (2010) The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Interstellar (2014)
3. 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 ...
For his work on: Back To The Future (1985) Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Back To The Future: Part II (1989) Back To The Future: Part III (1990) Forrest Gump (1993) Cast Away (2000) The Polar Express (2004) Monster House (2006) The Walk (2015)
4. 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 ...
For his work on: Rope (1948) Rear Window (1954) Vertigo (1957) North By Northwest (1959) Psycho (1960) The Birds (1963)
5. Merian C. Cooper
Writer | King Kong
In 1920, Merian C. Cooper was a member of volunteer of the American Kosciuszko Squadron that supported the Polish army in the war with Soviet Russia, where he met best friend and producing partner Ernest B. Schoedsack. On 26 July 1920, his plane was shot down, and he spent nearly nine months in the...
For his work on: King Kong (1933)
6. Andrew Stanton
Writer | WALL·E
Andrew Stanton has been a major creative force at Pixar Animation Studios since 1990, when he became the second animator and ninth employee to join the company's elite group of computer animation pioneers. As Vice President, Creative he currently oversees all shorts and feature projects at the ...
For his work on: Finding Nemo (2003) WALL-E (2008)
7. Brad Bird
Writer | The Incredibles
Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an American director, screenwriter, animator, producer and occasional voice actor, known for both animated and live-action films. Bird was born in Kalispell, Montana, the youngest of four children of Marjorie A. (née Cross) and Philip Cullen Bird. His father worked in...
For his work on: The Iron Giant (1999) The Incredibles (2004) Ratatouille (2007) Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) Tomorrowland (2015)
8. Henry Selick
Director | Coraline
Henry Selick is a film director, specializing in films with stop-motion animation. He has formal training as an animator.
Selick was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, son of Charles H. Selick and Melanie Molan. He was mostly raised in Rumson, New Jersey. As a child, Selick took up drawing as a hobby. ...
For his work on: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) Coraline (2009)
9. Barry Sonnenfeld
Director | Men in Black
Barry Sonnenfeld was born and raised in New York City. He graduated from New York University Film School in 1978. He started work as director of photography on the Oscar-nominated In Our Water (1982). Then Joel Coen and Ethan Coen hired him for Blood Simple (1984). This film began his collaboration...
For his work on: Men In Black (1997) Men In Black II (2002) Men In Black 3 (2012) The Addams Family (1991) Addams Family Values (1993)
10. Ben Stiller
Producer | Tropic Thunder
Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller was born on November 30, 1965, in New York City, New York, to legendary comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. His father was of Austrian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent, and his mother was of Irish Catholic descent (she converted to Judaism).
His parents made no real...
For his work on: Zoolander (2001) The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (2013)
11. J.J. Abrams
Producer | Lost
Jeffrey Jacob Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, the son of TV producer parents. At 15, he wrote the music for Don Dohler's Nightbeast (1982). In his senior year of college, he and Jill Mazursky teamed up to write a feature film, which became Taking Care of Business (1990)....
For his work on: Mission: Impossible III (2006) Super 8 (2011) Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
12. Ishirô Honda
Director | Gojira
Influential Japanese film director born May 7th, 1911, often credited as being the father of Godzilla. His name is a combination of "I" (or Ino), meaning "boar", and "shirô," meaning fourth son in the family. Originally, the young Honda had aspirations of becoming an artist; however, as he entered ...
For his work on: Godzilla (1954) King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) Destroy All Monsters (1968) Terror Of MechaGodzilla (1975)
13. Chris Columbus
Producer | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Ohio, Chris Columbus was first inspired to make movies after seeing "The Godfather" at age 15. After enrolling at NYU film school, he sold his first screenplay (never produced) while a sophomore there. After graduation Columbus tried to sell his fourth script, "...
For his work on: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) Harry Potter and the Camber of Secrets (2002) Mrs. Dobutfire (1993) Home Alone (1990) Pixels (2015)
14. Ivan Reitman
Producer | Up in the Air
Canadian producer and director Ivan Reitman created many of American cinema's most successful and best loved feature film comedies and worked with Hollywood's acting elite. Reitman produced such hits as the ground-breaking sensation National Lampoon's National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), which ...
For his work on: Ghostbusters (1984) Ghostbusters II (1989)
15. Colin Trevorrow
Producer | Safety Not Guaranteed
Born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland, Colin Trevorrow started making short films when he was 12 years old. He studied film and dramatic writing at New York University. After graduation, he wrote and directed "Home Base" a digital short that became one of the early viral successes on the ...
For his work on: Jurassic World (2015)
16. 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 ...
For his work on: Batman (1989) Edward Scissorhands (1990) Batman Returns (1992) Corpse Bride (2005)
17. Chris Renaud
Actor | Despicable Me 2
Director Chris Renaud has established himself as a heavyweight in the world of animation following the phenomenal box office success of recent movies Despicable Me (2010), Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (2012) and Despicable Me 2 (2013). Along with Pierre Coffin and Eric Guillon, he also co-created the ...
For his work on: Despicable Me (2010) The Lorax (2012) Despicable Me 2 (2013)
18. Pierre Coffin
Director | Despicable Me 2
Pierre-Louis Padang Coffin is a French animator, voice actor, director, producer, and writer best known for co-directing four films in the Despicable Me franchise and being the voice of the Minions, which won him the Kids Family Award at the 10th Seiyu Awards. Coffin was born in 1967 in France to ...
For his work on: Despicable Me (2010) Despicable Me 2 (2013)
19. 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 ...
For his work on: Stand By Me (1986) The Princess Bride (1987)
20. David Silverman
Producer | The Simpsons
David Silverman was born on March 15, 1957 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and director, known for The Simpsons (1989), The Simpsons Movie (2007) and Monsters, Inc. (2001).
For his work on: The Simpsons (1989-) Monsters Inc. (2001)
21. Pete Docter
Writer | Up
Pete Docter is the Oscar®-winning director of "Monsters, Inc.," "Up," and "Inside Out," and Chief Creative Officer at Pixar Animation Studios. He is currently directing Pixar's feature film "Soul" with producer Dana Murray, which is set to release June 19, 2020.
Starting at Pixar in 1990 as the ...
For his work on: Monsters Inc. (2006) Up (2009) Inside Out (2015)
22. Bob Peterson
Actor | Up
Bob Peterson was born in Wooster, Ohio, USA, in 1961. He studied mechanical engineering at Ohio Northern University, where he took computer graphics courses and graduated in 1983. He continued his studies in mechanical engineering at Purdue University where he earned a master's degree in 1986. ...
For his work on: Up (2009)
23. Ronnie Del Carmen
Director | Inside Out
Ronnie del Carmen joined Pixar Animation Studios in the summer of 2000 during the production of "Finding Nemo" and became a story supervisor on the film. He did production design on the Academy Award®-nominated short film, "One Man Band" and story work on Oscar®-winning, "Ratatouille." Del Carmen ...
For his work on: Inside Out (2015)
24. Dan Scanlon
Writer | Onward
Dan Scanlon joined Pixar Animation Studios in September 2001 as a storyboard artist on Pixar's award-winning feature films "Cars" and "Toy Story 3." During the initial production stages for both films, he worked closely with the directors to bring their ideas to the screen.
Scanlon went on to ...
For his work on: Monsters University (2013)
25. John Lasseter
Writer | Toy Story 2
Although born in Hollywood, John and his twin sister Johanna were raised in Whittier near Los Angeles. His parents were Jewell Mae (Risley), an art teacher, and Paul Eual Lasseter, a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership. His mother's profession contributed to his interest in animation and ...
For his work on: Toy Story (1995) A Bug's Life (1998) Toy Story 2 (1999) Cars (2006) Cars 2 (2011)
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