Ben Affleck is known for co-writing and acting in Good Will Hunting, starring in Armageddon, and directing, co-producing and acting in Argo.
1972-
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-
1940-
James L. Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter, best-known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda and Taxi.
1940-
Mel Brooks is an iconic filmmaker known for comedies like The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, among other works.
1926-
Jane Campion is a New Zealand film director and writer who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for The Piano in 1993. She also directed Bright Star.
1954-
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-
Sofia Coppola is a film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. She directed The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation, winning an Oscar for the latter.
1971-
1957-
Matt Damon is an American actor and Academy Award-winning screenwriter for his work on Good Will Hunting. He plays Jason Bourne in the hit film series.
1970-
I.A.L. Diamond was a Romanian-born American screenwriter who worked extensively with director Bill Wilder.
1920-1988
1906-1987
William Inge was a playwright best known for his plays Come Back, Little Sheba; Picnic, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize; and Bus Stop.
1913-1973
Award-winning, bestselling American novelist John Irving is known for works like The Cider House Rules and The World According to Garp.
1942-
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-
Herman J. Mankiewicz was a journalist and screenwriter who won an Academy Award for his work on the film Citizen Kane.
1897-1953
American producer, director and screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz was known for creating memorable characters. He worked with many major Hollywood stars.
1909-1993
1888-1973
Writer Larry McMurtry is noted for his novels set on the frontier, in contemporary small towns, and in increasingly urbanized and industrial areas of Texas.
1936-
British playwright John Osborne's Look Back in Anger ushered in a new movement in British drama and made him known as the first of the "Angry Young Men."
1929-1994
Mario Puzo became famous when he adapted his novel The Godfather into a screenplay for director Francis Ford Coppola in the 1960s.
1920-1999
1926-
1856-1950
Sidney Sheldon was a best-selling novelist who won Oscar, Tony and Emmy awards for his work on the stage and screen.
1917-2007
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-
Sir Tom Stoppard is a Czech-born British playwright whose famous works include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1964) and Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1978). He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1998 Academy Award winning film Shakespeare in Love.
1937-
Preston Sturges is regarded as the first Hollywood figure to successfully move from screenwriting to directing his own scripts.
1898-1959
Quentin Tarantino jolted onto the Hollywood scene with his screenplay for True Romance, before directing the early 1990s films Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.
1963-
Academy Award–winning actress Emma Thompson starred in films like Howards End, Sense and Sensibility and Nanny McPhee.
1959-
Billy Bob Thornton is an actor who has appeared in such films as Monster's Ball and who wrote, directed, and starred in Sling Blade.
1955-
Orson Welles wrote, directed and starred in the film Citizen Kane, among others, which remains one of the most influential films ever made.
1915-1985
1906-2002