Occupation
FILM DIRECTORS
With 2,041 biographies, Film Directors are the 10th most common occupation in Pantheon, behind Religious Figures, Musicians, and Military Personnels.
People
Pantheon has 2,040 people classified as film directors born between 1854 and 2000. Of these 2,040, 1,105 (54.17%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living film directors include Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Hayao Miyazaki. The most famous deceased film directors include Ingmar Bergman, Alfred Hitchcock, and Federico Fellini. As of April 2024, 228 new film directors have been added to Pantheon including Lung Chien, Anja Breien, and Rintaro.
Living Film Directors
Go to all RankingsSteven Spielberg
1946 - Present
HPI: 85.01
Martin Scorsese
1942 - Present
HPI: 83.67
Hayao Miyazaki
1941 - Present
HPI: 80.99
Woody Allen
1935 - Present
HPI: 77.13
Roman Polanski
1933 - Present
HPI: 76.28
Ridley Scott
1937 - Present
HPI: 76.23
Wim Wenders
1945 - Present
HPI: 74.15
Pedro Almodóvar
1949 - Present
HPI: 73.44
Francis Ford Coppola
1939 - Present
HPI: 73.20
George Lucas
1944 - Present
HPI: 72.00
Quentin Tarantino
1963 - Present
HPI: 71.33
Tinto Brass
1933 - Present
HPI: 71.16
Deceased Film Directors
Go to all RankingsIngmar Bergman
1918 - 2007
HPI: 83.10
Alfred Hitchcock
1899 - 1980
HPI: 80.09
Federico Fellini
1920 - 1993
HPI: 78.59
Stanley Kubrick
1928 - 1999
HPI: 78.35
Akira Kurosawa
1910 - 1998
HPI: 78.16
Pier Paolo Pasolini
1922 - 1975
HPI: 75.57
Sergei Eisenstein
1898 - 1948
HPI: 75.53
Luis Buñuel
1900 - 1983
HPI: 74.73
Andrei Tarkovsky
1932 - 1986
HPI: 74.60
Leni Riefenstahl
1902 - 2003
HPI: 74.18
Luchino Visconti
1906 - 1976
HPI: 73.77
François Truffaut
1932 - 1984
HPI: 73.55
Newly Added Film Directors (2024)
Go to all RankingsLung Chien
1916 - 1975
HPI: 55.03
Anja Breien
1940 - Present
HPI: 53.66
Rintaro
1941 - Present
HPI: 53.12
Arnold Fanck
1889 - 1974
HPI: 52.46
Yuri Ilyenko
1936 - 2010
HPI: 52.43
Les Kurbas
1887 - 1937
HPI: 52.40
Bruno Nuytten
1945 - Present
HPI: 52.12
Tomoyuki Tanaka
1910 - 1997
HPI: 52.00
Rajko Grlić
1947 - Present
HPI: 51.04
Gustav Machatý
1901 - 1963
HPI: 50.82
Eldar Shengelaia
1933 - Present
HPI: 50.55
Eduard Tisse
1897 - 1961
HPI: 50.25
Places
Most film directors were born in United States (633), France (179), and United Kingdom (156). By city, the most common birth places were New York City (91), Paris (66), and Los Angeles (39).The most common death places of film directors were United States (320), France (120), and Russia (76). By city, these were Los Angeles (88), Moscow (56), and Paris (51).
Places Over Time
The earliest biographies classified as film directors in Pantheon are Vasily Goncharov, William Kennedy Dickson, and Birt Acres. The concentration of film directors was largest during the Radio & Film Era, which lasted from 1900 to 1949. Some birth or death locations for earlier film directors are unknown, which may account for timeline differences below.
Lifespans
Which Film Directors were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 25 most globally memorable Film Directors since 1700.