The Most Famous

FILM DIRECTORS from South Africa

Icon of occuation in country

This page contains a list of the greatest South African Film Directors. The pantheon dataset contains 2,041 Film Directors, 6 of which were born in South Africa. This makes South Africa the birth place of the 41st most number of Film Directors behind Slovakia, and Serbia.

Top 9

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary South African Film Directors of all time. This list of famous South African Film Directors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.

Photo of Jamie Uys

1. Jamie Uys (1921 - 1996)

With an HPI of 57.22, Jamie Uys is the most famous South African Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 30 different languages on wikipedia.

Jacobus Johannes Uys ( ayss; 30 May 1921 – 29 January 1996), better known as Jamie Uys, was a South African film director, best known for directing the 1980 comedy film The Gods Must Be Crazy and its 1989 sequel The Gods Must Be Crazy II. Uys also directed the 1974 documentary film Animals Are Beautiful People.

Photo of Tosca Musk

2. Tosca Musk (b. 1974)

With an HPI of 56.49, Tosca Musk is the 2nd most famous South African Film Director.  Her biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Tosca Jane Musk (born 20 July 1974) is a South African filmmaker. She is an executive producer and director of feature films, television programs, and web content. Her work includes K. Bromberg's Driven, Rachel van Dyken's Matchmaker's Playbook, and her web series, Tiki Bar TV. Tosca is the younger sister of Elon Musk and Kimbal Musk, and daughter of Errol Musk and Maye Musk. She co-founded the streaming service Passionflix.

Photo of Gavin Hood

3. Gavin Hood (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 52.71, Gavin Hood is the 3rd most famous South African Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Gavin Hood (born 12 May 1963) is a South African filmmaker, and actor, best known for writing and directing Tsotsi (2005), which won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. He also directed the films X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Ender's Game, Eye in the Sky and Official Secrets.

Photo of Neill Blomkamp

4. Neill Blomkamp (b. 1979)

With an HPI of 51.63, Neill Blomkamp is the 4th most famous South African Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

Neill Blomkamp (Afrikaans: [ˈnil ˈblɔmkamp]; born 16 May 1979) is a South African-born Canadian film director and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-writer and director of the science fiction action film District 9 (2009), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also directed the dystopian science fiction action film Elysium (2013), the science fiction action film Chappie (2015), and the sports drama film Gran Turismo (2023). He is known for his collaborations with actor Sharlto Copley, who played the lead in District 9.

Photo of Roger Michell

5. Roger Michell (1956 - 2021)

With an HPI of 47.74, Roger Michell is the 5th most famous South African Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Roger Harry Michell (5 June 1956 – 22 September 2021) was a British theatre, television and film director. He was best known for directing films such as Notting Hill and Venus, as well as the 1995 made-for-television film Persuasion.

Photo of Jonathan Liebesman

6. Jonathan Liebesman (b. 1976)

With an HPI of 44.55, Jonathan Liebesman is the 6th most famous South African Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Jonathan Liebesman (born 15 September 1976) is a South African film director and screenwriter. He is known for directing the films Darkness Falls (2003), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), Battle: Los Angeles (2011), Wrath of the Titans (2012), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014).

Photo of Richard Stanley

7. Richard Stanley (b. 1966)

With an HPI of 43.26, Richard Stanley is the 7th most famous South African Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Richard Stanley is a South African filmmaker, known for his work in the horror genre. He began his career making short films and music videos, and subsequently directed the feature films Hardware (1990) and Dust Devil (1992). He was the original director of The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), but was fired early into principal photography due to creative differences, an episode recounted in the 2014 documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau. In 2019, he returned to feature films after more than twenty years, directing the H. P. Lovecraft adaptation Color Out of Space.

Photo of Wayne Kramer

8. Wayne Kramer (b. 1965)

With an HPI of 41.60, Wayne Kramer is the 8th most famous South African Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Wayne Kramer (born 26 May 1965) is a South African filmmaker and storyboard artist. He has written and directed films such as the 2003 film The Cooler, which garnered an Oscar nomination for its star Alec Baldwin, as well as two Golden Globe nominations for Baldwin and Maria Bello. He also adapted his 1995 short film Crossing Over into a feature-length version which starred Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd and Jim Sturgess, and was released by the Weinstein Company in 2009. He also wrote the screenplay for the film Mindhunters, but the final script was heavily rewritten by others and bore little resemblance to Kramer's original work.

Photo of Darrell Roodt

9. Darrell Roodt (b. 1962)

With an HPI of 39.46, Darrell Roodt is the 9th most famous South African Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Darrell James Roodt (born in Johannesburg, 28 April 1962) is a South African film director, screenwriter and producer. He is probably most well known for his 1992 film Sarafina! which starred actress Whoopi Goldberg. Roodt has worked with Patrick Swayze in Father Hood, James Earl Jones in Cry, the Beloved Country and Ice Cube in Dangerous Ground.

People

Pantheon has 9 people classified as South African film directors born between 1921 and 1979. Of these 9, 7 (77.78%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living South African film directors include Tosca Musk, Gavin Hood, and Neill Blomkamp. The most famous deceased South African film directors include Jamie Uys, and Roger Michell. As of April 2024, 3 new South African film directors have been added to Pantheon including Richard Stanley, Wayne Kramer, and Darrell Roodt.

Living South African Film Directors

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Deceased South African Film Directors

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Newly Added South African Film Directors (2025)

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous