Critical Performances of Film Directors

James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University before switching to English, and eventually dropping out. He then drove a truck to support his screenwriting ambition. He landed his first professional film job as art director, miniature-set builder, and process-projection supervisor on Roger Corman's Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) and had his first experience as a director with a two week stint on Piranha II: The Spawning (1982) before being fired.

He then wrote and directed The Terminator (1984), a futuristic action-thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton. It was a low budget independent film, but Cameron's superb, dynamic direction made it a surprise mainstream success and it is now regarded as one of the most iconic pictures of the 1980s. After this came a string of successful, bigger budget science-fiction action films such as Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). In 1990, Cameron formed his own production company, Lightstorm Entertainment. In 1997, he wrote and directed Titanic (1997), a romance epic about two young lovers from different social classes who meet on board the famous ship. The movie went on to break all box office records and earned eleven Academy Awards. It became the highest grossing movie of all time until 12 years later, Avatar (2009), which invented and pioneered 3D film technology, and it went on to beat "Titanic", and became the first film to cost two billion dollars until 2019 when Marvel took the record.

James Cameron is now one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood. He was formerly married to producer Gale Anne Hurd, who produced several of his films. In 2000, he married actress Suzy Amis, who appeared in Titanic, and they have three children.

Marc Forster is a German-born filmmaker and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the films Monster's Ball (2001), Finding Neverland (2004), Stay (2005), Stranger than Fiction (2006), The Kite Runner (2007), Quantum of Solace (2008), and World War Z (2013).

His breakthrough film was Monster's Ball (2001), in which he directed Halle Berry in her Academy Award-winning performance, the film also starred Billy Bob Thornton, Heath Ledger, and Peter Boyle. His next film, Finding Neverland (2004), was based on the life of author J.M. Barrie. The film was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Johnny Depp.

Forster also directed the twenty-second James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. In 2013 he directed the film adaptation of the novel World War Z, starring Brad Pitt.

Sarah Polley is an actress and director renowned in her native Canada for her political activism. Blessed with an extremely expressive face that enables directors to minimize dialog due to her uncanny ability to suggest a character's thoughts, Polley has become a favorite of critics for her sensitive portraits of wounded and conflicted young women in independent films.

She was born into a show business family: her stepfather, Michael Polley, appeared with her in the movie The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) and on the television series Avonlea (1990); and her mother, Diane Polley, was an actress and casting director. It was her mother's connections that launched Sarah, at her own insistence, on an acting career at the age of four, following in the footsteps of her older half-brother Mark Polley. A second half-brother, John Buchan, is a casting director and producer.

Her career as a child actress shifted into high gear when she was cast as the Cockney waif Jody Turner in Lantern Hill (1989), for which she won a Gemini Award, the Canadian equivalent of the Emmy, in 1992. Produced by Kevin Sullivan, the film was based on the book by Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables (1985). When Sullivan created a television series based on Montgomery's work, he cast Polley in the lead role of Sara Stanley in Avonlea (1990). The series propelled Polley into the first rank of Canadian TV stars and made her independently wealthy by the age of fourteen.

Her personal life was deeply affected by the death of her mother Diane from cancer shortly after her 11th birthday, a development that ironically paralleled the fictional life of her character Sara. Highly intelligent and politically progressive at a young age, Polley eventually rebelled against what she felt was the Americanization of the series after it was picked up by the Disney Channel for distribution in the US, eventually dropping out of the show. Though she does not blame her parents, she remains publicly disenchanted over the loss of her childhood and, in October 2003, said she is working on a script about a twelve-year-old girl on a TV show.

Polley, who picked up a second Gemini Award for her performance in the TV series Straight Up (1996), subsequently quit acting and high school to turn her attention to politics, positioning herself on the extreme left of Canada's left-of-center New Democratic Party. The publicity ensuing from her losing some teeth after being slugged by an Ontario policeman during a protest against the Conservative provincial government, plus the stinging cynicism from some other activists unimpressed by her celebrity, led her to lower her political profile temporarily and return to acting in Atom Egoyan's film The Sweet Hereafter (1997). It was her appearance as Nicole, the teenage girl injured in a school bus accident who serves as the conscience of the small town rent by the tragedy, that first brought her to the attention of critics in the US. In Canada, the role was heralded by critics as her successful breakthrough to adult roles. It was her second film with Egoyan, who wrote the part with her in mind when he adapted the novel by Russell Banks, who, ironically, is American. Predictions of an Academy Award nomination and future stardom were part of the critical consensus, and she received her first Best Actress Genie nomination from Canada's Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television and the Best Supporting Actress award from the Boston Society of Film Critics. It was the buzz created at the Sundance Festival, where her starring role in the film Guinevere (1999) was showcased, when the entertainment media crowned her the it-girl of 1999.

Intensely private and extremely ambivalent about the personal cost of celebrity and the Hollywood ethos Fame is the Name of the Game, Polley could be seen as rebelling against the expectations of mainstream cinema when she embarked on a career path that took her out of the spotlight thrown by the harsh lights of the Hollywood hype/publicity machine after shooting the film Go (1999). She dropped out of Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000), the US$60 million mega-hyped vehicle that was supposed to make her a mainstream star in the US, choosing to return to Canada to make the CDN$1.5 million The Law of Enclosures (2000) for Genie Award-winner John Greyson, a director she admires greatly. The film grossed poorly in Canada and was not released in the US, but it did garner Polley her second Genie nomination for Best Actress. While her replacement in Almost Famous (2000) went on to win an Oscar nomination and a career above the title in glossy Hollywood films, she took a wide variety of parts, large and small, in independent films, including significant roles in the ensemble pieces The Claim (2000) and The Weight of Water (2000); bit parts in eXistenZ (1999) and Love Come Down (2000); and the lead in No Such Thing (2001). Her choice of projects showed her to be a questing spirit more focused on learning the art of her craft than on stardom.

She has said that her choice of film roles, eschewing mainstream Hollywood movies for chancier, non-commercial independent fare, was the result of an ethical decision on her part to make films with social importance. A less-observant viewer might think that the rebel Polley played in her political life that had previously manifested itself in her profession was now driving her to the verge of career suicide in terms of popularity, marketability, and choice of future roles. However, that interpretation does not recognize the extraordinary talent that will always keep her in demand by directors, if not casting agents, with an eye on the opening weekend box office. One must understand Polley's career progression in light of her attendance at the Canadian Film Centre's directors program and her production of short films, including Don't Think Twice (1999) and the highly praised I Shout Love (2001). Polley is a cinema artist. This woman wants to make, and will make films. Thus, we can understand her career choices as a desire to work with and understand the technique of some of the best directors in film, including David Cronenberg, Michael Winterbottom, and Hal Hartley.

Polley is as renowned for her intelligence as for her remarkable talent. The problem of the intelligent person in the acting field is that the actor, as artist, in not ultimately in control of their medium, and it is artistic control that is the hallmark of the great artist. The controlling intelligence on a movie set is the director, and her attendance at the Canadian Film Centre has given her a new perspective on acting. The actor, she says, should not try to give a complete performance for the camera (that is, control the representation on film) but must remember that the function of the actor is to give the director as much coverage as possible as a film, as well as a performance, is made in the editing room. According to Polley, this realization, that the film actor exists to serve the director, has given her new enthusiasm for acting. Thus, her career, and her career choices, can be seen as a quest for knowledge about the art of cinema, a journey whose fruition we will see in her future feature work as both actor and director.

Scott Cooper was born on 20 April 1970 in Abingdon, Virginia, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Crazy Heart (2009), Hostiles (2017) and The Pale Blue Eye (2022).

Kasi Lemmons was born on 24 February 1959 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She is an actress and director, known for Harriet (2019), The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Candyman (1992). She has been married to Vondie Curtis-Hall since 19 August 1995. They have two children.

Damien Sayre Chazelle is an American director and screenwriter. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother, Celia Sayre (Martin) Chazelle, is an American-Canadian writer and professor of history at The College of New Jersey. His father, Bernard Chazelle, is a French-American Eugene Higgins Professor of computer science at Princeton University, originally from Clamart, France. Chazelle has a sister, Anna, who is an actress and circus performer.

Edward Drake studied at the University of Melbourne. A former assistant of Academy Award-winning producer Michael Sugar at Anonymous Content and director Mark Romanek, Drake has collaborated with Grammy-winning artists including The Fratellis, Jack Ü, and the Stanton Warriors. He is a member of the WGAw and has projects in development with 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, and Disney.

Daryl Wein is an award-winning filmmaker. He is represented by CAA and Rain Management.

He directed "Something from Tiffany's" in 2022 starring Zoey Deutch and Kendrick Sampson for Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine and Amazon Studios.

He co-wrote/co-directed/co-produced/DP'd/edited, "How It Ends"; released by MGM and had its World Premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival starring Zoe Lister-Jones, Cailee Spaeny, Olivia Wilde, Helen Hunt, Fred Armisen, Nick Kroll, Lamorne Morris.

His narrative feature film, "White Rabbit", had its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018 starring Vivian Bang (Swedish Dicks) and Nana Ghana (LA Woman Rising). Daryl was the executive producer of "Band Aid" (IFC Films), starring Zoe Lister-Jones, Adam Pally and Fred Armisen, which had its World Premiere at Sundance in 2017.

He co-wrote and directed, "Lola Versus", for Fox Searchlight starring Greta Gerwig (Greenberg), Zoe Lister-Jones (Breaking Upwards), Joel Kinnaman (Robocop), Hamish Linklater (The Future), Debra Winger (Terms of Endearment), and Bill Pullman (Independence Day).

His debut narrative feature film, "Breaking Upwards" with Zoe Lister-Jones (Lola Versus), Julie White (Transformers), Peter Friedman (The Savages), Olivia Thirlby (Juno), and Andrea Martin (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), was an official selection in the Narrative Competition at the 2009 SXSW Film Festival. IFC Films released the film theatrically and on VOD in 2010.

His political drama "Blueprint" (Deauville Film Festival) was released by The Orchard. His agricultural thriller, "Consumed", starring Zoe Lister-Jones, Griffin Dunne, and Danny Glover can be seen on Netflix and was championed by Erin Brockovich.

In TV, Wein directed for the Golden Globe-winning show "Mozart in the Jungle" for Amazon, as well as digital projects for Vice and Refinery29. His pilot "Awokened" starring David Walton, Michaela Watkins, Jeremy Sisto, Lamorne Morris, Majandra Delfino, Zoe Lister-Jones premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. He recently directed for Season 2 of "Single Parents" for ABC.

Wein's feature length documentary, "Sex Positive," won the Grand Jury Prize at the L.A. Outfest Film Fest, and was an official selection at the 2008 South by Southwest Film Festival, London Film Festival, Boston Independent Film Festival, among thirty other film festivals around the world. Regent Releasing distributed the film theatrically in North America, and the film has been released in 8 foreign countries on broadcast and theatrically, most notably at the BFI in London.

In 2006 Daryl co-wrote and directed, "Unlocked," a short psychological drama starring Olivia Thirlby (Juno) and executive produced by Stephen Daldry (The Reader, Billy Elliot). The film was an Official Selection at the Tribeca Film Festival, as well as the Gijon Film Festival in Spain and 20 other film festivals. It was voted one of the "Best Short Films in the World" by Indy Mogul.

He is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Darren Aronofsky was born February 12, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, Darren was always artistic: he loved classic movies and, as a teenager, he even spent time doing graffiti art. After high school, Darren went to Harvard University to study film (both live-action and animation). He won several film awards after completing his senior thesis film, "Supermarket Sweep", starring Sean Gullette, which went on to becoming a National Student Academy Award finalist. Aronofsky didn't make a feature film until five years later, in February 1996, where he began creating the concept for Pi (1998). After Darren's script for Pi (1998) received great reactions from friends, he began production. The film re-teamed Aronofsky with Gullette, who played the lead. This went on to further successes, such as Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Wrestler (2008) and Black Swan (2010). Most recently, he completed the films Noah (2014) and Mother! (2017).

Samuel Alexander Mendes was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England, UK to parents James Peter Mendes, a retired university lecturer, and Valerie Helene Mendes, an author who writes children's books. Their marriage didn't last long, James divorced Sam's mother in 1970 when Sam was just 5-years-old. Sam was educated at Cambridge University and joined the Chichester Festival Theatre following his graduation in 1987. Afterwards, he directed Judi Dench in "The Cherry Orchard", for which he won a Critics Circle Award for Best Newcomer. He then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he directed such productions as "Troilus and Cressida" with Ralph Fiennes and "Richard III". In 1992, he became artistic director of the reopened Donmar Warehouse in London, where he directed such productions as "The Glass Menagerie" and the revival of the musical "Cabaret", which earned four Tony Awards including one for Best Revival of a Musical. He also directed "The Blue Room" starring Nicole Kidman. In 1999, he got the chance to direct his first feature film, American Beauty (1999). The movie earned 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Mendes, which is a rare feat for a first-time film director.

Joanna Hogg was born on 20 March 1960 in London, England, UK. She is a director and writer, known for The Souvenir (2019), The Souvenir: Part II (2021) and Unrelated (2007).

Michael Showalter is a director, writer, and producer who most recently directed the 2017 hit The Big Sick. Previously he directed and co-wrote the 2016 film Hello, My Name Is Doris starring Sally Field. Michael's first film was the The Baxter (2005) starring Michelle Williams and Justin Theroux. Michael is a co-creator of the critically acclaimed television show Search Party on TBS. He also co-created the TV mini-series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later on Netflix.

As a writer and producer, Michael's other film credits include Wet Hot American Summer and They Came Together. Michael is a founding member of the comedy groups The State and Stella. He's also written two books: Mr. Funny Pants and Guys Can Be Cat Ladies Too.

Antoine Fuqua is an American film director, known for his work in the film Training Day as well as The Replacement Killers, Tears of the Sun, King Arthur, Shooter, Brooklyn's Finest, Olympus Has Fallen and The Equalizer.

He has directed music videos for such artists as Arrested Development, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Toni Braxton, Pras Michel and Usher. He was nominated for MTV's Best Rap Video for Heavy D & the Boyz. He also won two Music Video Production Awards: The Young Generators Award, for his work on Coolio's rap video "Gansta Paradise" and the Sinclair Tenebaum Olesiuk and Emanual Award for the trailer to the hit feature film Dangerous Minds (1995). Among his many commercial credits are Wings for Men, Big Star Jeans, Miller Genuine Draft, Reebok, Toyota, Armani and Stanley Tools.

Tommy Wirkola was born on 6 December 1979 in Alta, Norway. He is a writer and director, known for Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (2014), What Happened to Monday (2017) and Dead Snow (2009).

Born in Brooklyn in 1969 Noah Baumbach is the son of two film critics, Georgia Brown and Jonathan Baumbach (also a writer). His studies at Vassar College were the subject of his first film (made as he was 26 years old), Kicking and Screaming (1995). His second major picture, made ten years later, The Squid and the Whale (2005) was no less autobiographical but went back further in his personal history, back to the time when his parents separated. Recounting this past trauma and its aftermath earned Noah a selection at the Sundance Film Festival, three Golden Globe nominations and a best screenplay Oscar nomination. From then on his career was launched and his output became more regular with Margot at the Wedding (2007) starring Nicole Kidman and his wife Jennifer Jason Leigh, Greenberg (2010), filmed in Los Angeles, with Ben Stiller and Greta Gerwig. Back in New york, where he lives, he was the director (and co-author with his main actress, Greta Gerwig) of the bittersweet art house success Frances Ha (2012). Besides directing films, he also co-writes some with Wes Anderson, a good friend of his, and is the author of humor columns in the New Yorker.

Charles Shyer was born in Los Angeles, California, USA as Charles Richard Shyer. He is a director, producer and writer, known for Private Benjamin (1980), The Parent Trap (1998), Alfie (2004) and Father of the Bride (1991), Father of the Bride Part II (1995) and The Noel Diary (2022). He was previously married to Deborah Lynn, Nancy Meyers and Diana Ewing.

J.D. Dillard is known for Devotion (2022), Sweetheart (2019) and Sleight (2016).

Rian Johnson was born in Maryland and at a young age his family moved to San Clemente, California, where he was raised. After graduating from high school, he went on to attend the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. His first feature film, Brick (2005), was released in 2005 and was the metaphorical building block that launched his career. He is a director, writer, and musician, among other areas of expertise.

His second feature, The Brothers Bloom (2008), proved his ability to tell an exciting story with A-list actors, and the visionary Looper (2012) cemented him as a modern science-fiction icon. Among his highest-rated work are three episodes of the critically acclaimed Breaking Bad (2008). His filmography made him a strong candidate to write and direct Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017), the penultimate episode of the 'Star Wars' series. Lucasfilm was pleased with his work and announced that we would write and direct a 'Star Wars' trilogy separate from the main Skywalker story.

Don Hall was born on 8 March 1969 in Glenwood, Iowa, USA. He is a writer, known for Meet the Robinsons (2007), Big Hero 6 (2014) and Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

Luca Guadagnino was born on 10 August 1971 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He is a director and producer, known for Challengers (2024), Call Me by Your Name (2017) and Suspiria (2018).

Francis Lawrence is an American filmmaker. He started directing over sixty music videos before he directed the cult classic Keanu Reeves film Constantine, I Am Legend and Water for Elephants. He also directed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2, and Red Sparrow, which all starred Jennifer Lawrence.

Adam Shankman was born on 27 November 1964 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Hairspray (2007), A Walk to Remember (2002) and Disenchanted (2022).

Mark Mylod was born in 1965 in Newton Abbot, Devon, England, UK. He is a producer and director, known for Succession (2018), Game of Thrones (2011) and Shameless (2011). He is married to Amy Westcott. They have four children.

Clay Kaytis made his directing debut for Rovio Animation and Sony Pictures with The Angry Birds Movie (2016). Based on the number-one app of all time, the film grossed $352M worldwide and was Sony's #1 film of 2016. He followed this with The Christmas Chronicles (2018), which was Kaytis' first live-action film. The Kurt Russell starrer was viewed over 20 million times in its first week of release on Netflix. Next was a project very near to his heart, two animated Peanuts specials for AppleTV+: Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne (2021), which he co-wrote, and the Emmy nominated Snoopy Presents: To Mom (and Dad), with Love (2022). His latest film A Christmas Story Christmas (2022) (HBOMax), also Kaytis' first feature screenwriting credit, reunites the entire child cast of A Christmas Story (1983), 39 years after the original film's 1983 release.

Kaytis developed his talent as a film maker at Walt Disney Animation Studios, starting as an intern in the Talent Development Program in 1994. Kaytis animated on hand-drawn films including Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan, Fantasia 2000, The Emperor's New Groove and Treasure Planet. In 2004, Kaytis transitioned to CG animation to animate on Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons and was quickly promoted to Supervising Animator on Rhino, the hamster, for Bolt. For his work developing Rhino's CG fat rolls for the screen, Kaytis was awarded a U.S. Patent and Disney Inventor Award for his invention of a "distance based mesh deformer." Kaytis strongly influenced the culture and artistic standards at Disney as Head of Animation on the film Tangled, which set a new standard for CG animation. Next, Kaytis designed and directed the end credit titles for Wreck-it Ralph. He also worked on the academy award wining and record-breaking feature, Frozen and was Head of Animation on the short, Tangled Ever After. During his career at Disney, Kaytis was fortunate to work with legendary animators and film makers including John Lasseter, Glen Keane, Eric Goldberg and Ken Duncan. Kaytis has also directed commercials (for the film Hop) and the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park ride The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash. Kaytis was one of the first podcasters, creating The Animation Podcast in 2005, a series of interviews with animation legends that, although now dormant, is enjoyed by students, professionals and fans of animation worldwide. Kaytis has been nominated for an Annie Award, and two Visual Effects Society Awards. Together with his wife Monica Lago-Kaytis, they run their production company Frogbot Films, developing and producing live-action and animated films and TV series.

Graduating from the University of Illinois, Russell left Chicago to begin work in film production in Los Angeles. He worked his way up, assistant directing and production managing independent films while writing screenplays. Russell made his directorial debut in 1987 with A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. At that time, New Line Cinema was uncertain about the future of the Elm Street franchise. Russell convinced them that the series could take a step further into Freddy's nightmare world through cutting edge visual effects and dramatize the bond among Freddy's youthful victims with the concept of Dream Warriors. The success of the film redefined the franchise for New Line, earning more at the box office than the first two films put together. At the time of its release A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors was the highest grossing independent film ever made. The next milestone in Russell's career was The Mask, a worldwide blockbuster that grossed more than $320 million on a $18 million dollar budget. The Mask made international stars out of Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz and set a new standard in CGI technology. Russell continued his success in Hollywood, making #1 box office hits with A list stars such as Eraser with Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Scorpion King with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Collateral, starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Fox. Russell latest film, Paradise City unites John Travolta and Bruce Willis for the first time since Pulp Fiction and is slated for a worldwide release this summer.