Occupation

FILM DIRECTORS

Icon of occupation

With 2,041 biographies, Film Directors are the 10th most common occupation in Pantheon, behind Religious Figures, Musicians, and Military Personnels.

People

Pantheon has 2,240 people classified as film directors born between 1854 and 2000. Of these 2,240, 1,278 (57.05%) 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 Akira Kurosawa, David Lynch, and Federico Fellini. As of April 2024, 198 new film directors have been added to Pantheon including Park Chan-wook, Coralie Fargeat, and Edward Berger.

Living Film Directors

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Deceased Film Directors

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Newly Added Film Directors (2025)

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Places

Most film directors were born in United States (691), France (191), and United Kingdom (171). By city, the most common birth places were New York City (100), Paris (72), and Los Angeles (48).

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 Television Era, which lasted from 1950 to 1989. 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.