They Direct Stuff

1. Mike Rohl

Mike Rohl is known for The Princess Switch (2018), The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020) and The Princess Switch 3 (2021).

2. Rikki Beadle Blair

Director | Kickoff

Rikki Beadle Blair was born on July 25, 1961 in Camberwell, London, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Kickoff (2011), Bashment (2011) and Stonewall (1995).

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 ...

4. Mary Harron

Director | American Psycho

Mary Harron (born January 12, 1953) is a Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter. She gained recognition for her role in writing and directing several independent films, including I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), American Psycho (2000), and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). She co-wrote American Psycho and ...

5. Lana Wachowski

Writer | The Matrix

Lana Wachowski and her sister Lilly Wachowski, also known as the Wachowskis, are the duo behind such ground-breaking movies as The Matrix (1999) and Cloud Atlas (2012). Born to mother Lynne, a nurse, and father Ron, a businessman of Polish descent, Wachowski grew up in Chicago and formed a tight ...

6. 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 ...

7. 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 ...

8. 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, ...

9. 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 ...

10. Cheryl Dunye

Director | The Watermelon Woman

Cheryl Dunye was born on May 13, 1966 in Liberia. She is a director and producer, known for The Watermelon Woman (1996), The Owls (2010) and Mommy Is Coming (2012).

11. Norma Bailey

Director | Mary Kills People

Norma Bailey was born in 1949 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She is a director and producer, known for Mary Kills People (2017), Cowboys and Indians: The J.J. Harper Story (2003) and The Capture of the Green River Killer (2008).

12. Tracey Deer

Producer | Mohawk Girls

Mohawk filmmaker Tracey Deer's debut feature Beans, a coming-of-age story about a young Mohawk girl's experiences during the Oka Crisis, screened at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to critical acclaim. Tracey was also honored with the prestigious TIFF Emerging Talent Award, ...

13. Clement Virgo

Producer | Greenleaf

Clement Virgo is one of Canada's foremost film directors. In 2015 he directed and co-wrote a six part miniseries adaptation of the Lawrence Hill novel The Book of Negroes (2015) which debuted to record-breaking numbers on the CBC in Canada and on BET in the U.S. and won twelve Canadian Screen ...

14. 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 ...

15. Jeff Woolnough

Director | Vikings

Jeff Woolnough is known for Vikings (2013), Being Erica (2009) and Battlestar Galactica (2004).

16. 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 ...

17. François Ozon

Director | Dans la maison

François Ozon was born on November 15, 1967 in Paris, France. He is a director and writer, known for In the House (2012), 8 Women (2002) and Swimming Pool (2003).

18. 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...

19. M. Night Shyamalan

Producer | Lady in the Water

Born in Puducherry, India, and raised in the posh suburban Penn Valley area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, M. Night Shyamalan is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional actor, known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots.

He is the son of Jayalakshmi, a Tamil ...

20. Park Chan-wook

Director | Oldeuboi

Park Chan-wook was born on August 23, 1963 in Seoul, South Korea. He is a producer and director, known for Oldboy (2003), The Handmaiden (2016) and Decision to Leave (2022). He is married to Eun-hee Kim. They have one child.

21. Julie Dash

Director | Reasonable Doubt

Thirty-one years ago, filmmaker Julie Dash broke racial and gender boundaries with her Sundance award-winning film (Best Cinematography) Daughters of the Dust. She became the first African American woman to have a wide theatrical release of her feature film. The Library of Congress placed Daughters...

22. 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 ...

23. Lasse Hallström

Director | What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Lasse Hallström inherited his enthusiasm for film from his father, who was an amateur filmmaker. In high school he made his first short film, which was released on Swedish television. Hallström then began working as a director, cameraman and editor for Swedish television. He also made music videos ...

24. Fernando Dalayoan

Director | Young Ligaw

Fernando Dalayoan is known for Young Ligaw (2011), Regalo (2022) and Menopause (2023).

25. Maureen Bradley

Producer | Two 4 One

Maureen Bradley is known for Two 4 One (2014), Freshman's Wharf (2009) and Fear or Favour (2015).

26. John Dahl

Director | The Last Seduction

John Dahl was born on June 15, 1956 in Billings, Montana, USA. He is a director and writer, known for The Last Seduction (1994), Kill Me Again (1989) and Rounders (1998). He is married to Beth Jana Friedberg. They have four children.

27. Stanley M. Brooks

Director | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

STAN BROOKS is an award-winning producer of film and television with over 30 years of industry experience. He has produced more than 70 movies for film and television since 1989, when he founded his first independent production company, Once Upon a Time Films.

Brooks made his directorial debut with ...

28. Daniel Duran

Director | Strings

Daniel Duran is known for Bravetown (2015), Chris Jeday Feat. J. Balvin, Ozuna, Arcángel: Ahora Dice (2017) and Sebastián Yatra, Daddy Yankee, Natti Natasha Feat. Jonas Brothers: Runaway (2019).

29. John Barnard

Director | Menorca

John Barnard is known for Menorca (2016), The Sheepdogs Have at It (2012) and The Perfect Match (2019).

30. Michel Gondry

Director | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

He grew up in Versailles with a family who was very influenced by pop music. When he was young, Gondry wanted to be a painter or an inventor. In the 80s he entered in an art school in Paris where he could develop his graphic skills and where he also met friends with whom he created a pop-rock band ...

31. Ana Lily Amirpour

Director | A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

Ana Lily Amirpour was born in Margate, Kent, England, UK. She is a director and writer, known for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), The Bad Batch (2016) and Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (2021).

32. Martha Shane

Producer | After Tiller

Martha Shane is known for After Tiller (2013), Narrowsburg (2019) and P.O.V. (1988).

33. Lana Wilson

Director | Miss Americana

Lana Wilson is an Emmy-winning and two-time Spirit Award-nominated writer and director. Transformative quests for meaning and humanity connect her diverse body of work across documentaries, short films, and episodic. Her most recent film, the Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana (2020), was the ...

34. Jane Campion

Writer | Bright Star

Jane Campion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and now lives in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Having graduated with a BA in Anthropology from Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, and a BA, with a painting major, at Sydney College of the Arts in 1979, she began filmmaking in the early...

35. Kathryn Bigelow

Director | Zero Dark Thirty

A very talented painter, Kathryn spent two years at the San Francisco Art Institute. At 20, she won a scholarship to the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program. She was given a studio in a former Offtrack Betting building, literally in an old bank vault, where she made art and waited to be ...

36. Lisa Cholodenko

Director | The Kids Are All Right

Lisa Cholodenko earned an MFA at Columbia University Film School where she made an award-winning short film Dinner Party (1997) Her feature High Art (1998) won the National Society of Film Critics award for Ally Sheedy's performance and The Waldo Salt Screenwriting award at Sundance. Both "High Art...

37. Lena Dunham

Writer | Tiny Furniture

New Yorker Lena Dunham is the daughter of a painter, Carroll Dunham and Laurie Simmons, a designer and photographer. Dunham was educated at Oberlin College, Ohio, graduating with a creative writing degree. It was while at Oberlin that she began writing shorts and feature films. In 2009, Dunham ...

38. Lynn Shelton

Director | Humpday

Two time Emmy-nominated actress and director Lynn Shelton fell ill and was taken to a Los Angeles, California hospital. During her medical examination it was found that she had been suffering, without diagnosis or any apparent symptoms, from acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood. She died ...

39. Sofia Coppola

Actress | The Godfather Part III

Sofia Coppola was born on May 14, 1971 in New York City, New York, USA as Sofia Carmina Coppola. She is a director, known for Somewhere (2010), Lost in Translation (2003), and Marie Antoinette (2006). She has been married to Thomas Mars since August 27, 2011. They have two daughters, Romy and ...

40. Shelagh Carter

Director | Into Invisible Light

Shelagh Carter is a Lifetime Member of The Actors Studio as an Actress and Director, and a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre's Directors Lab in Toronto. As a director, Shelagh has created work for over fifteen years. Night Travellers, her third short film, was a National Screen Institute Drama ...

41. Shira Piven

Director | Fully Loaded

Shira Piven was the child of theatre people and established herself as an actress and then stage director in Chicago and later in New York, where she was the founder and artistic director of Water Theatre Company between 1999 and 2003. Their hit show Pilgrims was and adapted and directed by Ms. ...

42. Steve McQueen

Director | 12 Years a Slave

Steve McQueen was born on October 9, 1969 in London, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for 12 Years a Slave (2013), Shame (2011) and Hunger (2008). He is married to Bianca Stigter. They have two children.

43. 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 ...

44. 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...

45. 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 ...

46. Bruce McDonald

Director | Pontypool

Bruce McDonald was born on May 28, 1959 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He is a director and producer, known for Pontypool (2008), Dance Me Outside (1994) and Highway 61 (1991).

47. Bong Joon Ho

Writer | Snowpiercer

Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean filmmaker. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his filmography is characterized by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts. He first became known to audiences and achieved a cult following with his directorial debut film, the ...

48. deco dawson

Editor | Ne crâne pas sois modeste

Named one of the top 25 young independent filmmakers in North America by New York's Filmmaker Magazine (2002-03), and one of the top 10 Canadian Industry Trailblazers by The Reel World Film Festival, Deco Dawson has been achieving international acclaim for his body of short film work for a number ...

49. Bobby Farrelly

Producer | There's Something About Mary

Bobby Farrelly was born on June 17, 1958 in Cumberland, Rhode Island, USA. He is a producer and director, known for There's Something About Mary (1998), Osmosis Jones (2001) and Me, Myself & Irene (2000). He has been married to Nancy Farrelly since 1990. They have two children.

50. Peter Farrelly

Producer | Green Book

Peter Farrelly was born on December 17, 1956 in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Green Book (2018), There's Something About Mary (1998) and Dumb and Dumber (1994). He has been married to Melinda Farrelly since December 31, 1996. They have two children.

51. Mandeep Sodhi

Cinematographer | Not Funny

Mandeep was born and raised in Chandigarh, India, where he started his film journey by creating comic videos for YouTube in 2007-2008. A VFX company saw his works online and offered him a job in Mumbai. From thereon he has wore different hats, from being a VFX supervisor, to an Assistant Director ...

52. Gary Yates

Director | Seven Times Lucky

Gary Yates was born in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He is known for Seven Times Lucky (2004), High Life (2009) and The Big Pickle (1997).

53. Allison Anders

Director | Gas Food Lodging

Anders weathered a rough childhood and young adult life which not only encouraged an escapist penchant for making up characters but also an insider's sympathy for the strong but put-upon women who people her films. Growing up in rural Kentucky, Anders would always remember hanging onto her father's...

54. John Landis

Director | The Blues Brothers

John Landis began his career in the mail room of 20th Century-Fox. A high-school dropout, 18-year-old Landis made his way to Yugoslavia to work as a production assistant on Kelly's Heroes (1970). Remaining in Europe, Landis found work as an actor, extra and stuntman in many of the Spanish/Italian "...

55. Ralph Bakshi

Director | Wizards

Ralph Bakshi worked his way up from Brooklyn and became an animation legend. He was born on October 29, 1938, in Haifa, Israel, the son of Mina (Zlotin) and Eliezar Bakshi, and is of Krymchak Jewish descent. He was raised in Brownsville, after his family came to New York to escape World War II. ...

56. Jûzô Itami

Writer | Osôshiki

A tragic end belies a life led with purpose. The son of a successful filmmaker, Juzo Itami made his name acting in television and films before making a late career shift into screenwriting and directing at age 50. Known to choose the subjects of his films through everyday observations, he often ...

57. Barry Jenkins

Producer | If Beale Street Could Talk

Barry Jenkins was born on November 19, 1979 in Miami, Florida, USA. He is a producer and director, known for If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), Moonlight (2016) and Aftersun (2022).

58. Kelly Reichardt

Director | Wendy and Lucy

Kelly Reichardt was born and raised in Miami-Dade Country, Florida, to a family of police officers. She had an interest in photography from a very young age. She started by using her father's camera, which he used for photographing crime scenes. She went to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in ...

59. 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 ...

60. 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...

61. Douglas Mitchell

Assistant_director | Run

Douglas Mitchell is known for Run (2020), Less Than Kind (2008) and Wrong Turn (2003).

62. David Winning

Director | Van Helsing

46 Features, 29 Series, over 180 TV credits, David Winning is a US/Canada Dual Citizen and veteran film & television Director and Producer. Experience in all genres: Sci-Fi, horror, drama, action, theatrical release, movies-of-the-week, episodic, romance, westerns, Christmas movies, comedy, family,...

63. 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 ...

64. Richard Linklater

Director | Waking Life

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. ...

65. Mike Elliott

Producer | American Pie Presents: Girls' Rules

Mike Elliott is an award-winning television and film writer, producer, and director.

His series credits include First Wives Club (Black Entertainment Television/Netflix), Wolf Pack (Paramount+), The New Addams Family (Fox Family), The Matchmaker Mysteries (Hallmark), Bigger (Black Entertainment ...

66. Randall Miller

Director | Bottle Shock

Miller is a member of the DGA, SAG and the WGA. He began his career as a struggling actor appearing in TV commercials, theater and a few stints in television shows and movies. After USC Film School he went to the AFI. His thesis film at the AFI launched his career as a director working in ...

67. Roberto Sneider

Director | Me estás matando Susana

Roberto Sneider was born on September 1, 1962 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He is a director and producer, known for You're Killing Me Susana (2016), Tear This Heart Out (2008) and Shameless (2011).

68. F. Gary Gray

Director | Set It Off

Felix Gary Gray is an African-American music video director, film producer and film director from New York City known for directing films such as Friday, Men in Black: International, Be Cool, The Fate of the Furious, Set It Off, The Negotiator, Straight Outta Compton and The Italian Job. He ...

69. Takashi Ishii

Writer | Shinde mo ii

Takashi Ishii was born on July 11, 1946 in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. He was a writer and director, known for Original Sin (1992), Hello, My Dolly Girlfriend (2013) and Gonin Saga (2015). He died on May 22, 2022 in Tokyo, Japan.

70. Blaine Thurier

Director | Low Self-Esteem Girl

Blaine Thurier is known for Low Self-Esteem Girl (2000), Male Fantasy (2004) and Kicking Blood (2021).

71. Justin Kelly

Director | Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy

Justin Kelly is the writer/director behind Universal Pictures JT LeRoy (Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, Diane Kruger), which closed the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, I Am Michael (James Franco, Zachary Quinto, Emma Roberts, and executive produced by Gus Van Sant), which premiered at ...

72. Ava DuVernay

Writer | Queen Sugar

A director, producer, writer, marketer and film distributor, Ava DuVernay made her feature film debut with the documentary This is the Life (2008), a history on hip hop movement that flourished in Los Angeles in the 1990's. This was followed by series of television music documentaries which ...

73. BJ Verot

Actor | Nobody

BJ Verot is known for Nobody (2021), Violent Night (2022) and The Return (2020).

74. Oscar Micheaux

Writer | Within Our Gates

Oscar Micheaux, the first African-American to produce a feature-length film (The Homesteader (1919)) and a sound feature-length film (The Exile (1931)), is not only a major figure in American film for these milestones, but because his oeuvre is a window into the American history and psyche ...

75. Madison Thomas

Director | Ruthless Souls

One of the most compelling and versatile filmmakers working in Canada today, Madison Thomas was named one of Playback Magazine's "Five Filmmakers to Watch" in 2019. A storyteller of mixed ancestry (Ojibwe/Saulteux & Russian/Ukrainian settler), Thomas is based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba in Treaty 1 ...

76. David M. Rosenthal

Director | A Single Shot

David M. Rosenthal was born on March 23, 1969 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a director and writer, known for A Single Shot (2013), How It Ends (2018) and No Limit (2022).

77. Spike Lee

Director | Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. He attended ...

78. Collin Friesen

Writer | Sorry for Your Loss

Collin Friesen was born in small town Saskatchewan and grew up in Winnipeg, Canada. The son of a high school teacher and church secretary, Collin got his BA from the University of Manitoba before getting a job as a reporter for a local TV station. After working for the CBC in Alberta for two years,...

79. Nicolas Winding Refn

Writer | The Neon Demon

Writer, director, and producer Nicolas Winding Refn was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1970, to Anders Refn, a film director and editor, and Vibeke Winding (née Tuxen), a cinematographer. Just before he turned 11, in 1981, he moved to New York with his parents, where he lived out his teen years. ...

80. Paul McGuigan

Director | Lucky Number Slevin

Paul is a Bafta and Emmy nominated director known for Sherlock, Lucky Number Slevin, Inside Man and Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool. Born in Bellshill, Scotland he started his professional life as a photographer and then documentary filmmaker. His first film was Acid House in 1998 which is an ...

81. Dan Walechuk

Director | Geeksters

Dan Walechuk is known for Geeksters (2006), Automated Phone Sex (2003) and The Heart of the World (2000).

82. Julie Taymor

Director | Frida

Julie Taymor is an Academy Award-nominated director, known for such films as Frida (2002) and Across the Universe (2007).

She was born on December 15, 1952, in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Her father, Melvin Lester Taymor, was a gynecologist. Her mother, Elizabeth Bernstein, was a ...

83. Don McCutcheon

Director | The Ron James Show

Well known as an "actor's director", Don McCutcheon's talent at elevating performance is rooted in the theatre, while directing over 200 hours of television grants him the experience to creatively navigate the challenges of production. A team player, he's renowned for creating an atmosphere on set ...

84. Ileana Pietrobruno

Editor | Cat Swallows Parakeet and Speaks!

Ileana Pietrobruno is known for Cat Swallows Parakeet and Speaks! (1996), Girlfriend Experience (2008) and The Sisters of Gion (1987).

85. David Cronenberg

Actor | The Fly

David Cronenberg, also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of Blood, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1943. His father, Milton Cronenberg, was a journalist and editor, and his mother, Esther (Sumberg), was a piano player. After showing an inclination for literature at an early...

86. Don Mancini

Writer | Seed of Chucky

Don Mancini was born on January 25, 1963 in the USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Seed of Chucky (2004), Bride of Chucky (1998) and Child's Play (1988).

87. Takashi Shimizu

Director | Ju-on

Takashi Shimizu was born on July 27, 1972 in Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for Ju-on: The Grudge (2002), The Grudge (2004) and Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003).

88. Danishka Esterhazy

Director | I Was Lorena Bobbitt

Esterhazy began her film studies at the Winnipeg Film Group - the quirky cooperative which also produced filmmakers Guy Maddin and John Paizs. Esterhazy is a graduate of the Director's Lab at the Canadian Film Centre - the renowned film school founded by Norman Jewison. In 2017, Esterhazy was ...

89. Raul Inglis

Writer | Transparency

Raul Inglis was born in Mexico City, Mexico. He is known for Transparency (2010), Faithless (1998) and Vice (2008).

90. Theodore Dreiser

Writer | A Place in the Sun

Theodore Dreiser was one of the great American writers, and a transitional figure between Victorian America and the "modern" age that was inaugurated after the cessation of hostilities after WWI and the publication of Sinclair Lewis' "Main Street" in 1920. A naturalist with a committed social ...

91. 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 ...

92. John Carpenter

Writer | The Fog

John Howard Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, to mother Milton Jean (Carter) and father Howard Ralph Carpenter. His family moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his father, a professor, was head of the music department at Western Kentucky University. He attended Western Kentucky ...

93. Randall Wallace

Writer | We Were Soldiers

Randall Wallace was born on July 28, 1949 in Jackson, Tennessee, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for We Were Soldiers (2002), Pearl Harbor (2001) and Braveheart (1995).

94. Ryan Coogler

Director | Black Panther

Ryan Kyle Coogler is an African-American filmmaker and producer who is from Oakland, California. He is known for directing the Black Panther film series, Creed, a Rocky spin-off and Fruitvale Station. He frequently casts Michael B. Jordan in his works. He produced the Creed sequels, Judas and the ...

95. Charles Officer

Director | Akilla's Escape

Charles Officer was born on October 28, 1975 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was a director and actor, known for Akilla's Escape (2020), Unarmed Verses (2017) and Nurse.Fighter.Boy (2008). He died on December 1, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

96. Dee Rees

Director | Mudbound

Writer/Director Dee Rees is an alumna of New York University's graduate film program and a Sundance Screenwriting & Directing Lab Fellow.

In 2018, Dee became the first Black woman nominated for an Oscar in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for her highly-acclaimed film Mudbound (2017). The film, ...

97. Susanna Fogel

Writer | Booksmart

Susanna Fogel was born on October 8, 1980 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for Booksmart (2019), The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) and The Flight Attendant (2020).

98. Lena Waithe

Producer | Master of None

Lena Waithe was born on May 17, 1984 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is a producer and writer, known for Master of None (2015), Ready Player One (2018) and Queen & Slim (2019). She has been married to Alana Mayo since November 2019.

99. Jee-woon Kim

Writer | Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom

Kim Ji-woon was born in Seoul, South Korea. He began his career as an actor before becoming a stage director with productions such as "Hot Sea" in 1994 and "Movie, Movie" in 1995. He then began scripting for films, his first work, 97's "Wonderful Seasons" won Best Screenplay award at Korea's ...

100. Roger Boyer

Writer | Dark Forest

Roger Boyer is known for Dark Forest (2015), The Spider (2017) and Never Trust A Stiff (2018).