Directors with the Most Films in the IMDb Top 250
by fistproductionsemail | created - 2 months ago | updated - 1 month ago | PublicAll Directors with at least three films in the IMDb Top 250
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 ...
8 Films (Directed 12 Films)
1. The Dark Knight
2. Inception
3. Interstellar
4. The Prestige
5. Memento
6. The Dark Knight Rises
7. Oppenheimer
8. Batman Begins
2. 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, ...
7 Films (Directed 36 Films)
1. Schindler’s List
2. Saving Private Ryan
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
5. Jurassic Park
6. Catch Me If You Can
7. Jaws
3. 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 ...
7 Films (Directed 26 Films)
1. Goodfellas
2. The Departed
3. Taxi Driver
4. The Wolf of Wall Street
5. Shutter Island
6. Casino
7. Raging Bull
4. Stanley Kubrick
Director | 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Sadie Gertrude (Perveler) and Jacob Leonard Kubrick, a physician. His family were Jewish immigrants (from Austria, Romania, and Russia). Stanley was considered intelligent, despite poor grades at school. Hoping that a change of scenery would ...
7 Films (Directed 13 Films)
1. Paths of Glory
2. The Shining
3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey
5. Full Metal Jacket
6. A Clockwork Orange
7. Barry Lyndon
5. Akira Kurosawa
Writer | Kakushi-toride no san-akunin
After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater...
6 Films (Directed 31 Films)
1. Seven Samurai
2. High and Low
3. Ikiru
4. Ran
5. Yojimbo
6. Rashomon
6. 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 ...
6 Films (Directed 54 Films)
1. Psycho
2. Rear Window
3. North by Northwest
4. Vertigo
5. Dial M for Murder
6. Rebecca
7. 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 Films (Directed 10 Films)
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Django Unchained
3. Inglorious Basterds
4. Reservoir Dogs
5. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
8. Charles Chaplin
Writer | The Great Dictator
Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...
5 Films (Directed 18 Films)
1. Modern Times
2. City Lights
3. The Great Dictator
4. The Kid
5. The Gold Rush
9. Billy Wilder
Writer | The Apartment
Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929 and wrote scripts for many ...
5 Films (Directed 26 Films)
1. Sunset Blvd.
2. Witness for the Prosecution
3. The Apartment
4. Double Indemnity
5. Some Like it Hot
10. 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 ...
4 Films (Directed 7 Films)
1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2. Once Upon a Time in the West
3. Once Upon a Time in America
4. For a Few Dollars More
11. Hayao Miyazaki
Writer | Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's greatest animation directors. The entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking visuals in his films have earned him international renown from critics as well as public recognition within Japan.
Miyazaki started his career in 1963 as an animator at the ...
4 Films (Directed 12 Films)
1. Spirited Away
2. Princess Mononoke
3. Howl’s Moving Castle
4. My Neighbor Totoro
12. 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 ...
3 Films (Directed 25 Films)
1. The Godfather
2. The Godfather: Part II
3. Apocalypse Now
13. 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 ...
3 Films (Directed 13 Films)
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
14. 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...
3 Films (Directed 11 Films)
1. Fight Club
2. Se7en
3. Gone Girl
15. Denis Villeneuve
Director | Dune
Denis Villeneuve is a French Canadian film director and writer. He was born in 1967, in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada. He started his career as a filmmaker at the National Film Board of Canada. He is best known for his feature films Arrival (2016), Sicario (2015), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), ...
3 Films (Directed 11 Films)
1. Dune: Part Two
2. Incendies
3. Prisoners
16. Frank Capra
Director | It's a Wonderful Life
One of seven children, Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, in Bisacquino, Sicily. On May 10, 1903, his family left for America aboard the ship Germania, arriving in New York on May 23rd. "There's no ventilation, and it stinks like hell. They're all miserable. It's the most degrading place you ...
3 Films (Directed 36 Films)
1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
3. It Happened One Night
17. 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 ...
3 Films (Directed 8 Films)
1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
2. Aliens
3. The Terminator
18. 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 ...
3 Films (Directed 25 Films)
1. Gladiator
2. Alien
3. Blade Runner
19. 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 ...
3 films (Directed 4 films)
1. Up
2. Inside Out
3. Monsters Inc.
20. Clint Eastwood
Actor | Million Dollar Baby
Clinton Eastwood Jr. 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 Margaret Ruth Runner), a housewife turned IBM clerk. He grew up in nearby Piedmont. At school Clint took ...
3 Films (Directed 38 Films)
1. Unforgiven
2. Gran Torino
3. Million Dollar Baby
21. 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 ...
3 Films (Directed 19 Films)
1. No Country for Old Men
2. Fargo
3. The Big Lebowski
22. 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...
3 Films (Directed 6 Films)
1. Ratatouille
2. The Incredibles
3. The Iron Giant
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