Woody Allen is an American comedian, filmmaker and writer who directed and starred in two of his most famous films, Annie Hall and Manhattan.
1935-
Warren Beatty is an Oscar-winning director and actor known for such films as Bonnie and Clyde, Reds and Heaven Can Wait.
1937-
1940-
Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow has directed films like Point Break and Zero Dark Thirty. In 2009, she became the first woman to win an Academy Award for best director for The Hurt Locker (2008).
1951-
Danny Boyle is a British film director whose films include Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, and 127 Hours.
1956-
James L. Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter, best-known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda and Taxi.
1940-
Oscar-winning director James Cameron is best known for the highly acclaimed, box-office hits Aliens (1986), Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009).
1954-
1897-1991
1957-
1954-
Director, producer and screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola is best known for creating The Godfather film series starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.
1939-
Film actor and director Kevin Costner directed and starred in the epic film Dances With Wolves (1990), which won seven Oscars.
1955-
1899-1983
Clint Eastwood has made his name as a popular TV and film actor. He went on to become a famed director, working on several Academy Award-winning films.
1930-
Victor Fleming was a Hollywood director, notably helming Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.
1889-1949
An Academy Award-winning director, John Ford is considered to be one of the best filmmakers of all time. He is best known for directing Westerns.
1894-1973
Miloš Forman is an Academy Award winning Czech film director. He is best known for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus.
1932-
1927-1987
Mel Gibson is a well-known film actor, director and producer, having starred in Braveheart, Hamlet, Maverick and both the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon series.
1956-
Director George Roy Hill produced some of the most popular films of the 1960s and 1970s, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
1921-2002
Ron Howard is best known for his roles on the shows Happy Days and The Andy Griffith Show, and as the director for films, including A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13.
1954-
1906-1987
New Zealand native Peter Jackson is best known as a director for his adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, which has won 11 Oscars.
1961-
1909-2003
David Lean was a British director and screenwriter best known for his spectacular cinematography and adaptations of Charles Dickens classics, including Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948).
1908-1991
Ang Lee is an Academy Award-winning director, producer and screenwriter whose films include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain.
1954-
1942-
American producer, director and screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz was known for creating memorable characters. He worked with many major Hollywood stars.
1909-1993
1898-1969
English stage and film director Sam Mendes won an Oscar for American Beauty, and went on to direct films like Jarhead, Revolutionary Road and Skyfall.
1965-
Anthony Minghella was an Academy Award-winning director best known for his adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient. Released in 1996, the film claimed the Oscar for best picture in 1997.
1954-2008
Married to Judy Garland and father to Liza Minnelli, film director Vincente Minnelli infused a new sophistication and vitality into movie musicals of the 1940s and '50s.
1903-1986
Mike Nichols in an American theater and film director, best known for his 1967 classic, The Graduate. He's won an Academy Award, as well as multiple Tony and Emmy Awards.
1931-
1933-
Sydney Pollack is an Oscar-winning film director, producer and actor. His director credits include Tootsie and Three Days of the Condor.
1934-2008
Robert Redford is a Hollywood legend, starring in several blockbuster films in his day, and producing and directing many others. He also helped start the Sundance Film Festival in the late 1970s.
1936-
1906-1976
1928-1991
1918-1998
1926-2003
Director Martin Scorsese has produced some of the most memorable films in cinema history, including the iconic Taxi Driver and Academy Award-winner The Departed.
1942-
1963-
Academy Award-winning filmmaker, director and producer Steven Spielberg's films include Jaws, The Color Purple and Schindler's List.
1946-
1904-1975
Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Oliver Stone is responsible for the hit films Platoon, Scarface, Born on the Fourth of July and Natural Born Killers.
1946-
1906-2002
1902-1981
Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis is behind Romancing the Stone, the Back to the Future trilogy, Forrest Gump, Tales from the Crypt and Cast Away.
1952-
1907-1997