Famous Filmmakers a to z

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.

With her husky voice and beauty, Demi Moore was a fixture in 'Brat Pack' movies of the 1980s, such as St. Elmo's Fire and About Last Night.

Roger Moore is a British actor best known for his role as James Bond in seven films from 1973-'85.

Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, best known for her performances in French New Wave films of the 1950s and 60s.

Silent film director F.W. Murnau created the first major vampire film with 1924's Nosferatu, based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stroker.

Actor and comedian Eddie Murphy began doing stand-up as a teenager. He became a popular Saturday Night Live cast member and starred in several box-office hits.

Ryan Murphy is the creator of the popular American television programs Nip/Tuck, Glee, American Horror Story and The New Normal.

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.

Christopher Nolan is an innovative film director and screenwriter who's helmed several early 21st century megahits, including Memento, Inception and The Dark Knight Rises.

Clifford Odets was the leading dramatist of the theater of social protest in the United States during the 1930s. He helped form the influential Group Theatre.

Gary Oldman is an English actor and film director whose edgy, intense style has brought him acclaim in such hits as Sid and Nancy, JFK, and The Dark Knight.

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."

Puppeteer Frank Oz is the man behind such iconic characters as Yoda, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Grover, and Animal. He's also directed several films.

American actor Al Pacino has kept moviegoers riveted since the 1970s, with roles in movies like The Godfather, Serpico and Scent of a Woman.

Sarah Jessica Parker is an award-winning TV and film actress whose starring role in the series Sex and the City catapulted her to stardom.

Trey Parker is a writer, director and actor known chiefly as the creator and driving force behind the animated TV series South Park.

Gordon Parks was an African-American photographer, filmmaker and author, best known for his work published in LIFE magazine and for directing the hit movie Shaft.

Brilliant, brash and a little wacky, J. Stephen Peace co-produced the cult horror film Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and, as a state legislator, oversaw energy deregulation in California.

Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn starred in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, married Madonna, and directed Jack Nicholson in two films.

Actress, musician and activist Pauley Perette is best known as the lab technician on the crime drama NCIS.

Writer, actor, producer, and director Tyler Perry has built an entertainment empire that consists of successful films, plays, and a best-selling book.

Mary Pickford was a legendary silent film actress and was known as "America’s sweetheart." She was a founder of United Artists and helped establish the Academy.

Sidney Poitier became the first black Academy Award winner in 1964, receiving the honor for his performance in Lilies of the Field (1963).

Sydney Pollack is an Oscar-winning film director, producer and actor. His director credits include Tootsie and Three Days of the Condor.

American filmmaker Edwin S. Porter invented the Simplex camera for the Edison Company, and pioneered new techniques in films like The Great Train Robbery.

Sir Anthony Quayle was a revered actor of stage and screen known for work that included Hamlet, Lawrence of Arabia and Anne of the Thousand Days.

Panamanian-born U.S. theatrical director José Quintero was a founder of the Off-Broadway theatre Circle in the Square, where he directed regularly from 1950.

Sam Raimi has directed some of Hollywood's scariest movies and biggest blockbusters, such as Evil Dead 2 and Spider-man.

American actor John Ratzenberger, best known as mailman Cliff Clavin from the television series Cheers, has also contributed voice-acting to every animated Pixar feature film.

Man Ray was primarily known for his photography, which spanned both the Dada and Surrealism movements.

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.

Charles Nelson Reilly was a Tony-Award winning actor also known for a variety of roles on TV programs, including The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and The Match Game.

American actor, director and producer Rob Reiner is best known for directing the classic hits Stand By Me (1996) and When Harry Met Sally (1989).

Max Reinhardt was one of the first theatrical directors to achieve international recognition. He helped found the annual Salzburg Festival.

French director Jean Renoir, son of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, directed C'est la Revolution and wrote a biography of his father in the 1960s.

Alma Reville, also known as "Lady Hitchcock," was Alfred Hitchcock's lifetime partner, assistant director and closest collaborator.

Former Saturday Night Live castmember Chris Rock has appeared in such films as Bad Company and is the creator of the television show Everybody Hates Chris.

American writer and producer Gene Rodenberry created the immensely influential Star Trek television series in the 1960s.

Canadian actor Seth Rogen shot to fame in television and film, collaborating several times with director Judd Apatow.

French film director Eric Rohmer was an editor of respected periodicals, including Cahiers du Cinéma, and the maker of films like My Night at Maud's.

Filmmaker George A. Romero has created such classic horror films as Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead.

Roberto Rossellini, father of actress Isabella Rossellini, was an Italian film director associated with the Neorealist movement. His most celebrated work is Rome, Open City.

Paul Rudd is an American actor and film producer who became a minor teen idol with his break-out performance in the 1995 film Clueless and went on to star in numerous comedies.

Geoffrey Rush is an Australian actor best known for his award-winning performance in the 1996 film Shine.

David O. Russell is an Oscar-nominated director, writer and producer known for films like Three Kings, The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook.

Artist, screenwriter and director Julian Schnabel was a leading figure of the art world in the 1980s, and has proven to be talented in many creative fields.

Actor and comedian Rob Schneider's is best known for his combination of self-deprecating humor and goofball antics in films like Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.

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.

Ridley Scott is an English director and producer, whose notable hits include Thelma and Louise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down. He is also recognized as the older brother of director Tony Scott, who committed suicide in August 2012.

English film director Tony Scott was best known for his first box-office success, Top Gun, as well as later films like True Romance and Enemy of the State. He was the brother of  Ridley Scott, also a famed producer and director.

Actor Steven Seagal makes popular action movies such as the 1998 hit Under Siege. He studied martial arts in Asia and opened an academy in the U.S.

David O. Selznick was a Hollywood film producer who made a huge string of hits in the 1930s through the 1950s, including Gone with the Wind.

Martin Sheen is an American actor best known for his roles in films Badlands (1973) and Apocalypse Now (1979). He has won numerous awards for his role as President Bartlet on the TV series The West Wing.

Sam Shepard is a prolific, Oscar-nominated actor and playwright who’s won the Pulitzer Prize.

American photographer Cindy Sherman is known for her elaborately "disguised" self-portraits that focus on social role-playing and sexual stereotypes.

M. Night Shyamalan is best known for directing The Sixth Sense, which was released in 1999 to wide acclaim, including six Oscar nominations.

Screenwriter and director John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood led to a Academy Award for Best Director, making him the first African-American ever nominated.

Mira Sorvino is an Academy Award-winning actress who starred in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker, director and producer Steven Spielberg's films include Jaws, The Color Purple and Schindler's List.

One of the most popular action stars of all time, Sylvester Stallone is best known for portraying boxer Rocky Balboa and Vietnam War veteran John Rambo.

A career criminal romanticized as the last of a breed of Old West outlaws, Cherokee Bad Boy Henry Starr earned the distinction of having robbed more banks in the Old West than all other famous bank-robbing gangs combined.

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.

Preston Sturges is regarded as the first Hollywood figure to successfully move from screenwriting to directing his own scripts.

Quentin Tarantino jolted onto the Hollywood scene with his screenplay for True Romance, before directing the early 1990s films Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

Julien Temple is an English filmmaker and music video director who began his career directing the Sex Pistols documentary The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle (1979).

American actor and director Justin Theroux is known for his role on the TV series Strangers with Candy, as well as film roles in Tropic Thunder, Your Highness and Wanderlust, among several other productions.

Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor and director known for roles in such films as Monster's Ball and Sling Blade.

French director François Truffaut established the New Wave movement in film. He won an Oscar for his 1972 film, Day for Night.

Peter Ustinov was an English actor, writer and director who is known for his Oscar-winning performances in Spartacus (1960) and Topkapi (1964).