most inspiring film-makers
by walnutfilms | created - 05 Nov 2013 | updated - 05 Nov 2013 | Public
1. 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 ...
2. 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 ...
3. Luc Besson
Writer | Le Cinquième Élément
Luc Besson spent the first years of his life following his parents, scuba diving instructors, around the world. His early life was entirely aquatic. He already showed amazing creativity as a youth, writing early drafts of The Big Blue (1988) and The Fifth Element (1997), as an adolescent bored in ...
4. 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 ...
5. Erik Balling
Director | Adam og Eva
Erik Balling was one of the most beloved Danish filmmaker in the 20th century. Balling was a director, a producer and a writer. Erik Balling was mostly famous for creating such TV epics as "Matador" and "Huset På Christianshavn" and the film-series of "Olsen banden". Erik Balling was born the 19th ...
6. Radu Mihaileanu
Writer | Train de vie
Radu Mihaileanu was born on April 23, 1958 in Bucharest, Romania. He is a writer and director, known for Train of Life (1998), The Concert (2009) and Live and Become (2005).
7. Michael Herbig
Actor | Der Schuh des Manitu
Michael 'Bully' Herbig studied photography and is well known in the German comedy scene as a writer, director and producer. In addition to his morning radio show 'Langemann und die Morgencrew' from 1992 to 1995, he also made 800 episodes of the comedy radio show 'Die Bayern Cops'. He has appeared ...
8. Mathieu Kassovitz
Actor | Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
Mathieu Kassovitz was born on August 3, 1967 in Paris, France. He is an actor and director, known for Amélie (2001), La haine (1995) and The Fifth Element (1997).
9. 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 ...
10. 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 ...
11. Roland Suso Richter
Director | Der Tunnel
Roland Suso Richter was born on January 7, 1961 in Marburg, Hesse, Germany. He is a director and production manager, known for The Tunnel (2001), Eine Hand Voll Gras (2000) and Sara Amerika (1999).
12. Josef Fares
Director | Jalla! Jalla!
Josef Fares, born September 19, 1977 in Beirut, Lebanon, is a director, writer and actor. His family moved to Sweden in 1987 and settled in Örebro. Josef Fares was a very productive filmmaker in his teens. He diligently sent his works to all the world's festivals for short films. Encouraged by the ...
13. 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 ...
14. Enzo Barboni
Director | I due superpiedi quasi piatti
Enzo Barboni (nick name E.B. Clucher) is one of the most representative filmmakers of the last line of the western to Italian thanks to the parodistic and trumpet-like series of Trinity. Born in 1922, Enzo Barboni began operating as a car operator in 1942, only twenty years later, and in 1961 ...
15. Andrew Adamson
Director | Shrek 2
Andrew Adamson was born on December 1, 1966 in Auckland, New Zealand. He is a producer and director, known for Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek (2001) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). He has been married to Michelle Jonas since 2018. He was previously married to ...
16. Joe Wright
Director | Pride & Prejudice
Joe Wright is an English film director. He is best known for Pride & Prejudice (2005), Atonement (2007), Anna Karenina (2012), and Darkest Hour (2017).
Wright always had an interest in the arts, especially painting. He would also make films on his Super 8 camera as well as spend time in the evenings...
17. 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...
18. Mel Gibson
Actor | Braveheart
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson was born January 3, 1956 in Peekskill, New York, USA, as the sixth of eleven children of Hutton Gibson, a railroad brakeman, and Anne Patricia (Reilly) Gibson (who died in December of 1990). His mother was Irish, from County Longford, while his American-born father is ...
19. Neill Blomkamp
Director | District 9
Neill Blomkamp is a South African-Canadian film director and screenwriter who is known for the science fiction films District 9, Elysium and Chappie. He also directed the supernatural horror film Demonic and the 2007 short film Halo: Landfall, based on the Microsoft science fiction video game ...
20. Duncan Jones
Director | Moon
Duncan Jones was born on May 30, 1971 in Bromley, Kent, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Moon (2009), Source Code (2011) and Mute (2018). He has been married to Rodene Ronquillo since November 6, 2012. They have two children.
21. Tony Scott
Producer | Domino
Tony Scott was a British-born film director and producer. He was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom is fellow film director Ridley Scott. He was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England to parents Jean and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. As a result of his father's career in the British...
22. Dany Boon
Actor | Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis
Dany Boon was born on June 26, 1966 in Armentières, Nord, France. He is an actor and writer, known for Welcome to the Sticks (2008), Joyeux Noel (2005) and R.A.I.D. Special Unit (2016).
23. Joseph Kosinski
Director | Top Gun: Maverick
Joseph Kosinski is a director whose uncompromising style has quickly made a mark in the filmmaking zeitgeist. His four theatrical releases have grossed $2.2 billion worldwide and been nominated for 7 Academy Awards and 2 Grammys.
His film debut, "Tron: Legacy" for Walt Disney Studios, grossed $400 ...
24. Tom Tykwer
Writer | Lola rennt
Director, writer, producer and composer Tom Tykwer was born in 1965 in Wuppertal, Germany. He showed an interest in film-making from childhood, making super 8 films from the age of 11. Among his first jobs was working at a local art-house cinema. Tykwer eventually relocated to Berlin, first working...
25. Roger Young
Director | Lou Grant
Roger Young grew up on his Grandfather's farm, and in the town of Mahomet, Illinois. Population 850. At age thirteen he moved to the big town of Bloomington, Illinois, where he learned to play pool, compete on the swim team, and circle the Steak-n-Shake in his buddy's '57 Chevy. After high school ...
26. Cale Glendening
Director | Onward
Cale Glendening is known for Onward (2016), Hello (2016) and Our Dream of Water (2017).
27. Peter Flinth
Director | Arn: Tempelriddaren
Peter Flinth was born on 7 November 1964 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was admitted to the National Film School of Denmark and in the same time worked as an assistant director on a number of Danish feature films, including most notably Academy Award-nominated Dance of the Polar Bears and Ole ...
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