Top 10 Hollywood Directors

1. Steven Spielberg

American filmmaker, Steven Allan Spielberg started in New Hollywood and is the most financially successful filmmaker. As a filmmaker, Spielberg has earned various Academy Awards (two for Best Director), the Kennedy Center Honors, the AFI Life Achievement Award, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Spielberg was raised in Phoenix, Arizona. In college, he studied cinema in California. After directing many television episodes, including Night Gallery and Columbo, he directed Duel's critically acclaimed television feature (1971). The Sugarland Express was his first picture as a filmmaker (1974). In 1975, he directed the summer smash Jaws. Then came Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Purple Rain (1985), E.T. (1982), Empire of the Sun (1991), and the Indiana Jones films.

After a short absence, Spielberg directed Jurassic Park, followed by Schindler's List, a Holocaust drama (both 1993). He directed Saving Private Ryan in 1998, War of the Worlds (2003), and Minority Report (2002), were some of the science fiction films he made in the 2000s. Additionally, he has worked on Tintin, Ready Player One, Amistad, Munich and War Horse. Lincoln (2012), West Side Story, The Post (2017) and Bridge of Spies (2015), are some of his other notable works.

Spielberg is also noted for his long-standing partnership with composer John Williams on all but five of his films. Several of Spielberg's films are among the all-time top grosser.

2. Alfred Hitchcock

An English filmmaker, Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE was born on August 13 1899 and died on April 29 1980. He directed almost 50 films in six decades, many of which are being viewed and studied today. His frequent interviews, cameo performances in most of his films, and hosting and producing the television anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents (195565) made him the "Master of Suspense." His films received 46 Academy Award nominations, six wins, including five Best Director nominations.

Hitchcock began his career in 1919 initially working as a title card designer after suitable training. The Pleasure Garden, a British-German silent film (1925). It was his first hit, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), and Blackmail (1929) that launched the British "talkie" genre.

Filmmakers may employ editing and camera movement to replicate a person's gaze, turning spectators become voyeurs. According to film critic Robin Wood, "A Hitchcock picture is an organism, with every aspect implying and relating to the whole." Aside from Cary Grant, Hitchcock worked with Ingrid Bergman, James Stewart, and Grace Kelly throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Hitchcock emigrated to America in 1955.

In a 2012 survey of hundreds of cinema reviewers, Hitchcock's Vertigo overtook Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) as the British Picture Institute's finest film produced. Nine of his films, including his favourite, Shadow of a Doubt, will be preserved in the U.S. National Film Registry by 2021. (1943). He was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship in 1971 and the AFI Life Achievement Award on April 29, 1980.

3. Martin Scorsese

He is an American film director, an Academy Award, three Primetime Emmys, a Grammy, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, and two Directors Guild of America Awards AFI Life Achievement Award 1997, Kennedy Center Honor 2007 and BAFTA Fellowship 2012 were among Scorsese's many distinctions. The Library of Congress has designated five of his films as "culturally, historically, or artistically important".

M.A. in Culture, Education, and Human Development from NYU in 1968. Scorsese rose to prominence in the New Hollywood period of the 1970s and 1980s. Scorsese's works are inspired by his Italian-American heritage and explore criminality, machismo, nihilism, and Catholic themes of guilt and salvation. Among his distinctive techniques include the use of super slow motion and freeze frames, graphic violence, and vulgarity.

Mean Streets, a 1973 crime thriller about masculinity and violence, explored Catholic themes of sin and atonement. Robert De Niro co-starred in Taxi Driver (1976), which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes. De Niro would go on to co-star in eight more films with him, including New York, NY (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982), Goodfellas (1990), and Casino (2000). (2001).

George Harrison: Living in the Material World is one of his many rock music films (2011). As well as directing episodes of the television series Boardwalk Empire (2011-2015), Scorsese has directed the documentaries Public Speaking (2010) and Pretend It's a City (2009). Among his many accomplishments are the establishment of the Film Foundation in 1990, the establishment of the African Film Heritage Project in 2017 , and the establishment of the World Cinema Foundation in 2007

4. Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan is a British-American filmmaker. His films have made over $5 billion globally, and he has 11 Oscar nominations.

Born and brought up in London, Nolan has always had a passion for cinema. Following his studies in English literature at UCL, he made his feature film debut (1998). His second picture, Memento (2000), earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. With Insomnia (2002), he made his studio debut, followed by Tenet (2018), The Dark Knight Trilogy (20052012), The Prestige (2006), Dunkirk (2017), and Inception (2010), which got eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Interstellar (2014), and Dunkirk garnered him Oscar nods in various categories.

Nolan's films usually explore epistemological and metaphysical topics such as human morality, time creation, memory and personal identity. Mathematically inspired visuals and ideas, large-format film photography, unorthodox narrative structures, experimental soundscapes, materialistic viewpoints, and practical special effects permeate his work. He co-writes films with his brother Jonathan and manages Syncopy Inc. with his wife, Emma Thomas.

Awarded the Order of the British Empire for contributions to cinema in 2019, he was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2015.

5. James Cameron

Canadian filmmaker James Francis Cameron CC (born August 16, 1954) has worked across a wide range of genres. He is most renowned for directing science fiction and epic films, and he originally earned widespread attention for his work on The Terminator (1984). The Abyss (1989), the action-comedy True Lies (1993), and Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991). For his work on Titanic and Avatar he reached nominations for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing. His performance in Avatar, which was shot in 3D technology, got him nods in the same categories.

Aside from Earthship Productions, Cameron is a co-founder of the production businesses Lightstorm Entertainment, Digital Domain, and Digital Domain Productions. Additionally, he is an oceanographer for National Geographic. He has created several movies on the topic, including Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) and Aliens of the Deep (2007), which were both nominated for Academy Awards (2005). Cameron worked in the digital 3D Fusion Camera System, remote vehicle technology, and underwater filmmaking. A solo descent to the Mariana Trench, the world's deepest ocean trench, made possible by Cameron's Deepsea Challenger submersible in 2012, made him the world's first human to accomplish this feat.

According to Cameron's estimates, his films have made around US$2 billion in North America and nearly US$6 billion globally. Two of the most successful films of all time, Avatar and Titanic, have earned a combined total of $2.85 billion and $2.19 billion, respectively, making them the top and third highest-grossing films. Among Cameron's many accomplishments is that he directed the first two of just five films in history to make more than $2 billion worldwide. In 2010, Time magazine identified Cameron as one of the world's 100 most important individuals, and he has maintained that position ever since. Cameron is also an environmentalist who owns and operates several sustainable enterprises.

6. James Francis Coppola

James Francis Cameron is a Canadian filmmaker who has worked in various genres. He is most renowned for directing science fiction and epic films, and he originally earned widespread attention for his work on The Terminator (1984). He was also involved in the direction of Avatar (2009) and Titanic (1997). Titanic received him Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Film Editing, and Best Director, while Avatar won him an Academy Award for Best Film Editing. His performance in Avatar, which they shot in 3D technology, got him nods in the same categories.

Aside from Earthship Productions, Cameron is a co-founder of the production businesses Lightstorm Entertainment, Digital Domain, and Digital Domain Productions. Additionally, he is an oceanographer for National Geographic. He has created several movies on the topic, including Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) and Aliens of the Deep (2007), which were both nominated for Academy Awards (2005). Aside from that, Cameron has contributed to underwater filmmaking and developing the digital 3D Fusion Camera System, and he was instrumental in remote vehicle technologies. A solo descent to the Mariana Trench, the world's deepest ocean trench, made possible by Cameron's Deepsea Challenger submersible in 2012, made him the world's first human to accomplish this feat.

According to Cameron's estimates, his films have made around US$2 billion in North America and nearly US$6 billion globally. Two of the most successful films of all time, Avatar and Titanic, have earned a combined total of $2.85 billion and $2.19 billion, respectively, making them the top and third highest-grossing films. Among Cameron's many accomplishments is that he directed the first two of just five films in history to make more than $2 billion worldwide. In 2010, Time magazine identified Cameron as one of the world's 100 most important individuals, and he has maintained that position ever since. Cameron is also an environmentalist who owns and operates several sustainable enterprises.

7. Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Jerome Tarantino (born March 27, 1963) is an American director, actor, film critic, and author who is best known for his work in the film Pulp Fiction. His films are distinguished by many allusions to popular culture and cinema history, nonlinear plots, dark comedy, stylized violence, lengthy conversation, extensive use of profanity, cameo appearances, and ensemble casts, among other characteristics.

Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, but grew up in Los Angeles. With the release of Reservoir Dogs in 1992, a criminal thriller partially financed by selling his script True Romance (1993), he launched his career as an independent director. Empire magazine acclaimed the picture as the "Greatest Independent Film of All Time". It was a tremendous hit with critics and viewers alike for his second picture, Pulp Fiction (1994), a crime comedy that won multiple prizes, including the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards. From Dusk until Dawn (1996), in which he also appeared, Tarantino created the script. His third feature, Jackie Brown (1997), was an ode to blaxploitation cinema and was directed by Quentin Tarantino.

Tarantino's works have achieved critical and financial acclaim and a devoted following among cinema enthusiasts. Among his numerous accolades are two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and the Palme d'Or and nominations for an Emmy and five Grammy Awards. In 2005, he was named annual list of the world's most important people, including Bill Gates. Tarantino has been honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his achievements in the cinema business by filmmaker and historian Peter Bogdanovich, who has referred to him as "the single most important director of his age."

Tarantino's works have been criticised, particularly for his representations of violence, frequent racial slurs, and alleged incompetence in executing stunt sequences in Kill Bill: Volume 2. Tarantino's films have also been criticized for their sexual content.

8. Guy Ritchie

Guy Stuart Ritchie is an English filmmaker who works in various capacities within the film industry. British mobster flicks and the Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr.

At the age of 15, Ritchie dropped out of school and began working in the film business, eventually becoming a director of television commercials. His feature directing debut, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), came after directing The Hard Case's short film in 1995. Snatch (2000), his second feature, was critically and commercially acclaimed. Snatch was Ritchie's second directorial effort; his third, Swept Away (2002), was a critical and commercial failure. It starred Madonna, whom he was married later. His next two films, Revolver (2005) and RocknRolla (2008), were less well-received and met with a more divided reception. Sherlock Holmes and its sequel, were two of his most popular films in 2009 and 2011.

His films include The Man from UNCLE, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and Aladdin: Live-Action Adaptation of Disney's Animated Movie (2019). When it went through the theatrical run, Aladdin raked in around $1 billion worldwide, becoming one of the top-earning pictures of the year, it became 34th highest-grossing film of all time. "The Gentlemen" (2019) was generally highly reviewed and an economic triumph for him in 2020. Wrath of Man, starring Jason Statham, was directed by him in 2021.

9. David Fincher

He is an American film director, David Fincher (born August 28, 1962). Oscar nominations for his films, often psychological thrillers and biographical dramas, including three for Best Director.

Fincher's passion for filmmaking began at a young age when he was born in Denver, Colorado. The MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction went to him for both 1989's "Express Yourself" and 1990's "Vogue," two of Madonna's best-known music videos. After starring in the critically panned Alien 3 (1992), he starred in the critically acclaimed thriller Seven (1995). Although Fight Club became a cult classic, Fincher had a mixed reception with Fight Club (1999) and The Game (1997). Panic Room, starring Jodie Foster in 2002, brought him back to popularity.

Aside from Mank and The Social Network, Fincher was involved in the direction of Zodiac (2007), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), and The Social Network (2009). As a result of his efforts on The Social Network, he was honoured with the Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards for Best Director. Benjamin Button (2008, with 13 Oscar nominations) and Gone Girl (2014, with 11 British Academy Film Awards nominations) are his two greatest financial triumphs, earning over $300 million worldwide.

For Netflix's House of Cards (201318) and Mindhunter (201719), he was an executive producer and director, and he won an Emmy for his work on the premiere episode of House of Cards. Production business Propaganda Films was co-founded by David Fincher.

10. George Lucas

An American entrepreneur, filmmaker, and producer, G. Walton Jr. is best known for creating of most popular movies. He was chairman before Lucasfilm was sold to Disney in 2012.

Lucas along with Francis Ford Coppola after their graduation from USC in 1967, co-founded American Zoetrope. His student film Electronic Labyrinth was a critical and financial success, but his feature film debut, THX 1138, was not. American Graffiti (1973), which covered his youth in Modesto, California, was his next work as a writer-director, produced by Lucasfilm. Critics and audiences lauded the film, nominated for five Oscars.

Another film produced by Walton, the epic space opera Star Wars (1977), became a surprise hit despite it had production issues, it grossed over $1 billion and winning six Oscars. After The Empire Strikes Back (1980), he co-wrote Return of the Jedi (1983). (1983). Steven Spielberg recommended composer John Williams, with whom Lucas has worked on these franchises. From the 1970s to the 2010s, he produced and wrote for Lucasfilm.

Lucas is a four-time Academy Award nominee and one of the most financially successful filmmakers. His films are among the top 100 highest-grossing films in North America based on ticket inflation. Lucas is a key figure in the 20th century New Hollywood movement and a modern blockbuster pioneer.