Favorite Industry People
by Orr971 | created - 19 Feb 2015 | updated - 11 Sep 2016 | PublicORDER IS NOT RELEVANT. It's not a top list. Just a list of the people I appreciate the most.
1. 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 KING. The MASTER. The DON. The God. Best person to ever set foot on earth. A perfect masterpiece.
2. Jonathan Nolan
Writer | Westworld
Attended Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, graduating in 1994.
Graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1999. Majored in English.
Shortly after graduating from Georgetown University, Jonathan Nolan served as a production assistant on Memento (2000).
Wrote the short story, "...
The other KING! Together with his king brother he makes the best films a man can make.
3. 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...
4. Hans Zimmer
Composer | Gladiator
German-born composer Hans Zimmer is recognized as one of Hollywood's most innovative musical talents. He featured in the music video for The Buggles' single "Video Killed the Radio Star", which became a worldwide hit and helped usher in a new era of global entertainment as the first music video to ...
5. Aaron Sorkin
Writer | The West Wing
Aaron Sorkin grew up in Scarsdale, a suburb of New York City where he was very involved in his high school drama and theater club. After graduating from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater, Sorkin intended to pursue a career in acting. It took him only a short time to ...
6. Trent Reznor
Soundtrack | The Social Network
Trent Reznor is an American songwriter/musician/producer and sole member of multi-platinum act Nine Inch Nails, and now an Academy Award, Emmy and Grammy Award winning film composer. He began creating music as a child in Western Pennsylvania, first on piano and then taking up other instruments. He ...
7. Atticus Ross
Soundtrack | The Social Network
Atticus Ross was born on January 16, 1968 in England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) and Mank (2020). He has been married to Claudia Sarne since 2001. They have three children.
8. 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...
9. Terence Winter
Producer | The Sopranos
Terence Winter was born on October 2, 1960 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for The Sopranos (1999), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and Boardwalk Empire (2010). He is married to Rachel Winter. They have two children.
10. Howard Korder
Producer | Boardwalk Empire
Howard Korder was born on November 24, 1957 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Boardwalk Empire (2010), Lakeview Terrace (2008) and Stealing Sinatra (2003).
11. Greg Yaitanes
Producer | House M.D.
Greg Yaitanes is a visionary, Emmy-winning director and producer known for his ability to build new worlds through technical ingenuity while preserving his refined artistic aesthetic on-screen.
Yaitanes currently serves as Executive Producer and Director on Apple TV+'s "Presumed Innocent," the ...
12. Bryan Fuller
Writer | Pushing Daisies
Self professed Star Trek geek who watched and loved the Trek series "Deep Space Nine" and set out to write for them. At the time, Star Trek had an open script submission policy and Fuller contributed a spec, leading to a pitching opportunity. When he had sold a couple of stories to Deep Space Nine,...
13. David Shore
Producer | House M.D.
David Shore has written for cult favorite Due South, NYPD Blue and EZ Streets, served as head writer and supervising producer on Traders, which he developed for Canadian television, and was part of the writing team of the Emmy Award-winning first season of The Practice. He was twice nominated for ...
14. Allen Coulter
Director | Remember Me
Allen Coulter is an American television and film director, credited with a number of successful television programs. He has directed two feature films, Hollywoodland, a film regarding the questionable death of George Reeves starring Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, and Ben Affleck, and the 2010 film ...
15. Jeremy Podeswa
Director | Station Eleven
Jeremy Podeswa is an award winning feature film and television director who has been nominated four times for the Best Director Emmy, for HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" and "Game of Thrones" (twice), and for the Tom Hanks/ Steven Spielberg produced "The Pacific". He has also been nominated four times for...
16. Lee Smith
Editor | Inception
Lee Smith was born in 1960 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is an editor, known for Inception (2010), Dunkirk (2017) and The Dark Knight (2008). He is married to Kimberly.
17. Leonardo DiCaprio
Actor | Inception
Few actors in the world have had a career quite as diverse as Leonardo DiCaprio's. DiCaprio has gone from relatively humble beginnings, as a supporting cast member of the sitcom Growing Pains (1985) and low budget horror movies, such as Critters 3 (1991), to a major teenage heartthrob in the 1990s,...
18. Hugh Laurie
Actor | House M.D.
Hugh was born in Oxford, England on June 11, 1959, to Patricia (Laidlaw) and William George Ranald Mundell "Ran" Laurie, a doctor, both of Scottish descent. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge. Son of an Olympic gold medalist in the sport, he rowed for the England youth team (1977) and for ...
19. Mads Mikkelsen
Actor | Hannibal
Mads Mikkelsen's great successes parallel those achieved by the Danish film industry since the mid-1990s. He was born in Østerbro, Copenhagen, to Bente Christiansen, a nurse, and Henning Mikkelsen, a banker.
Starting out as a low-life pusher/junkie in the 1996 success Pusher (1996), he slowly grew ...
20. Damon Lindelof
Producer | Lost
Damon Lindelof was born on April 24, 1973 in Teaneck, New Jersey, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Lost (2004), The Leftovers (2014) and Watchmen (2019). He has been married to Heidi Fugeman since May 28, 2005. They have one child.
21. 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 ...
22. Larry David
Producer | Curb Your Enthusiasm
Lawrence Gene David is an American comedian, writer, actor, director, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom Seinfeld, on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seven seasons. He gained further recognition for the HBO series Curb Your ...
23. Max Richter
Soundtrack | Arrival
Max Richter was born on March 22, 1966 in Hamelin, Lower Saxony, West Germany. He is a composer and actor, known for Arrival (2016), The Leftovers (2014) and Ad Astra (2019).
24. Cliff Martinez
Composer | Only God Forgives
Cliff Martinez was born on February 5, 1954 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Only God Forgives (2013), The Neon Demon (2016) and Drive (2011).
25. Wally Pfister
Cinematographer | Inception
Wally Pfister is an American cinematographer and film director, who is best known for his work with Christopher Nolan. He is also known for his work on director F. Gary Gray's The Italian Job (2003) and Bennett Miller's Moneyball (2011).
He made his directorial debut with the film Transcendence (...
26. Mac Quayle
Composer | Mr. Robot
Audiences worldwide have been captivated by the unique musical stylings of Emmy-winning and Grammy-nominated composer, Mac Quayle.
Quayle scores BBC's upcoming limited series The Pact; FX and Ryan Murphy's Pea-body Award-winning, Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated 80's NYC ball scene drama Pose, ...
27. Lesli Linka Glatter
Director | Homeland
Lesli Linka Glatter is a director of film, network, cable, and premium cable television drama, with both pilots and episodes to her credit. Lesli's TV work includes Homeland (2011), The Newsroom (2012), The Walking Dead (2010), Justified (2010), Ray Donovan (2013), Masters of Sex (2013), Nashville ...
28. Thomas Schnauz
Producer | Breaking Bad
Thomas Schnauz was born on December 2, 1966 in Kearny, New Jersey, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Breaking Bad (2008), Better Call Saul (2015) and Reaper (2007).
29. Vince Gilligan
Producer | The X Files
George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is known for his television work, specifically as creator, head writer, executive producer, and director of Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul. He was a writer and producer for The ...
30. Moira Walley-Beckett
Producer | Breaking Bad
Moira Walley-Beckett is known for Breaking Bad (2008), Anne with an E (2017) and Flesh and Bone (2015).
31. Rian Johnson
Producer | Knives Out
Rian Johnson was born in Maryland and at a young age his family moved to San Clemente, California, where he was raised. After graduating from high school, he went on to attend the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. His first feature film, Brick (2005), was released in 2005 ...
32. Michelle MacLaren
Producer | Breaking Bad
Michelle MacLaren was born in Canada. Michelle is a producer and director, known for Breaking Bad (2008), Game of Thrones (2011) and Shining Girls (2022).
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