Movie, TV & Stage Directors, ABB-BRO
invisible" to the audience in plays, shows, and movies (Alfred Hitchcock and his film cameos being one notable exception), they play an important role by controlling the evolution of the theatrical or dramatic performance. When there are actors involved, the director often oversees and shapes their performances as well. Although the auteur theory holds that the director is the major creative force in a performance, the role of the director actually varies a great deal, not only according to the medium in question but also according to the extent to which he works with actors.
Movie, TV & Stage Directors Encyclopedia Articles By Title
George Abbott was an American theatrical director, producer, playwright, actor, and motion-picture director who......
J.J. Abrams is an American writer, director, and producer who was known for his role in creating several hit television......
Ben Affleck is an American actor and filmmaker who has played leading roles in action, drama, and comedy films......
Casey Affleck is an American actor who gained respect for his ability to convey internal conflict. His performance......
Alvin Ailey, Jr. was an American dancer, choreographer, and director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.......
Chantal Akerman was a Belgian filmmaker who explored the mundane details of ordinary life with a clear eye and......
Nikolay Pavlovich Akimov was a scenic designer and producer, known for the diversity of his bold experiments in......
Robert Aldrich was an American director who earned his reputation with realistic and socially conscious films that......
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea was a Cuban film director. After earning a law degree in Cuba, he studied filmmaking in Rome......
Sherman Alexie is an American writer whose poetry, short stories, novels, and films about the lives of American......
Ebrahim Alkazi was the doyen of contemporary theatre in India and one of the country’s leading post-independence......
Lewis Allen was a British-born director whose credits included classic television series and a diverse range of......
Woody Allen is an American motion-picture director, screenwriter, actor, comedian, playwright, and author who is......
Marc Allégret was a French motion-picture director known for his exacting film technique. Allégret was educated......
Yves Allégret was a French motion-picture director who gained fame for his work in the “film noir” genre that was......
Pedro Almodóvar is a Spanish filmmaker known for colorful melodramatic films that often feature sexual themes.......
Robert Altman was an unconventional and independent American motion-picture director, whose works emphasize character......
Winthrop Ames was an American theatrical producer, manager, director, and occasional playwright known for some......
Lindsay Anderson was an English critic and stage and film director who was a member of the Free Cinema and Angry......
Paul Thomas Anderson is an American screenwriter and director whose character-driven films, set mostly in the American......
Wes Anderson is an American director and screenwriter known for the distinctive visual aesthetic of his quirky......
Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and actress whose several volumes of autobiography explore the themes......
Kenneth Anger was an American independent filmmaker known for pioneering the use of jump cuts and popular music......
What is Anno Hideaki best known for? Anno Hideaki is best known for his mature and experimental anime series Neon......
André Antoine was an actor, theatrical manager, critic, and film director, a pioneer of naturalistic drama who......
Michelangelo Antonioni was an Italian film director, cinematographer, and producer noted for his avoidance of “realistic”......
Judd Apatow is an American writer, director, and producer known for creating offbeat comedies featuring unconventional......
Denys Arcand is a French Canadian filmmaker whose movies, most notably Les Invasions barbares (2003; The Barbarian......
Adolfo Aristarain is an Argentine film director and screenwriter known for his filmic sophistication and subtle......
Alan Arkin was an American actor who won respect during a long career as a performer onstage, in television, and......
Gillian Armstrong is an Australian film director who is known for her carefully observed strong female characters.......
Jack Arnold was an American director who was considered one of the leading auteurs in the science-fiction genre......
Dorothy Arzner was an American filmmaker who was the only woman directing feature-length studio films in Hollywood......
Hal Ashby was an American filmmaker who was one of the preeminent directors of the 1970s. He was especially noted......
Sir Frederick Ashton was the principal choreographer and director of England’s Royal Ballet, the repertoire of......
Ari Aster is an American film director and screenwriter known for combining wrenching psychological drama with......
Richard Attenborough was an English actor, director, and producer known for his dynamic on-screen presence, nuanced......
Jacques Audiard is a French film director and screenwriter whose crime films have been acclaimed for their scripts......
Paul Auster was an American novelist, essayist, translator, screenwriter, and poet whose complex novels, several......
Claude Autant-Lara was a French motion-picture director who won an international reputation with his film Le Diable......
Tex Avery was an influential American director of animated cartoons, primarily for the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer......
John G. Avildsen was an American film director best known for the aspirational boxing classic Rocky (1976) and......
Alan Ayckbourn is a successful and prolific British playwright, whose works—mostly farces and comedies—deal with......
Hector Babenco was an Argentine-born Brazilian director known for socially conscious films that examine the lives......
Lloyd Bacon was an American director who made some 100 films and was known for his efficiency and businesslike......
Hermann Bahr was an Austrian author and playwright who championed (successively) naturalism, Romanticism, and Symbolism.......
George Balanchine was the most influential choreographer of classical ballet in the United States in the 20th century.......
Sir Squire Bancroft was an English actor and manager whose espousal of careful craft in the writing and staging......
Antonio Banderas is a Spanish-born film actor and director whose good looks, sensuality, and emotional range made......
Banksy is an anonymous British graffiti artist known for his acerbic and antiauthoritarian art, often done in public......
Matthew Barney is an American sculptor and video artist whose five-part Cremaster film cycle was praised for its......
Jean-Louis Barrault was a French actor, director, and producer whose work with both avant-garde and classic plays......
Drew Barrymore is an American actress, producer, and director who transitioned from child star to leading lady......
Mikhail Baryshnikov is a Soviet-born American actor and ballet dancer who was the preeminent male classical dancer......
Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and filmmaker who introduced a new art form with his imaginative film......
Jason Bateman is an American actor, director, and producer best known for playing the part of Michael Bluth, the......
Robert Battle is an American dancer and choreographer who was the artistic director (2011– ) of the Alvin Ailey......
Gaston Baty was a French playwright and producer who exerted a notable influence on world theatre during the 1920s......
Noah Baumbach established himself as a distinctive new voice in filmmaking with his self-aware, dialogue-heavy......
Warren Beatty is an American motion-picture actor, producer, director, and screenwriter who is best known for his......
Shyam Benegal was a leading Indian director of nonmainstream Hindi cinema and one of its most prolific filmmakers.......
Roberto Benigni is an Italian actor and director known for his comedic work, most notably La vita è bella (1997;......
Michael Bennett was an American dancer, choreographer, and stage musical director. Bennett studied many styles......
Sir Frank Benson was a British actor-manager whose touring company and acting school were important influences......
Eric Bentley was a British-born American critic, translator, and stage director responsible for introducing the......
Robert Benton is an American filmmaker who directed and wrote a number of acclaimed movies, including Kramer vs.......
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film and stage director, screenwriter, and producer who specialized in small-budget......
Kaarlo Bergbom was an activist in the struggle to enhance Finnish-language institutions, and founder-director of......
Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish film writer and director who achieved world fame with such films as Det sjunde inseglet......
Busby Berkeley was an American motion-picture director and choreographer who was noted for the elaborate dancing-girl......
Curtis Bernhardt was a German-born film director who specialized in movies that were geared toward a female audience.......
Halle Berry is an American film actress, the first African American to win the Academy Award for best actress.......
Bernardo Bertolucci was an Italian film director who was perhaps best known for his film Last Tango in Paris (1972),......
Kathryn Bigelow is an American film director and screenwriter, noted for action films that often featured protagonists......
Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson was a poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, editor, public speaker, theatre director,......
J. Stuart Blackton was a British-born U.S. film director and producer who introduced animation and other important......
Augusto Boal was a Brazilian dramatist who created the Theatre of the Oppressed, a form of interactive theatre......
Budd Boetticher was an American film director who was best known for a series of classic westerns that starred......
Peter Bogdanovich was an American director, critic, and actor noted for his attempts to revitalize film genres......
Wojciech Bogusławski was the leading playwright of the Polish Enlightenment, a period of cultural revival much......
Richard Boleslavsky was a motion-picture and stage director who introduced the Stanislavsky method of acting to......
Bong Joon-Ho is a South Korean filmmaker known for the meticulous directing, social critique, blending of genres,......
John Boorman is a British movie director who is one of the most distinctive stylists of his generation. Boorman......
Lizzie Borden is an American filmmaker whose feminist perspective informed her eclectic style and subjects, which......
Frank Borzage was an American motion-picture director and producer noted for his romantic transcendentalism and......
Matthew Bourne is a British choreographer and dancer noted for his uniquely updated interpretations of traditional......
August Bournonville was a dancer and choreographer who directed the Royal Danish Ballet for nearly 50 years and......
Danny Boyle is a British director and screenwriter whose films are known for their bold visual imagery and exuberant......
Otto Brahm was a German literary critic and man of the theatre whose realistic staging exerted considerable influence......
Kenneth Branagh is an Irish-born English actor, director, and writer who is best known for his film adaptations......
Marlon Brando was an American motion picture and stage actor known for his visceral, brooding characterizations.......
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatrical reformer whose epic theatre departed from the conventions......
Robert Bresson was a French writer-director who, despite his limited output, has been rightly celebrated as one......
James Bridges was an American actor, screenwriter, and director who was best known for The China Syndrome (1979)......
Philippe de Broca was a French film director best known for his eccentric, irreverent comedies, made with enthusiasm......
Matthew Broderick is an American actor best known for playing the title character in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)......
Peter Brook was an English producer-director of Shakespeare’s plays whose daring productions of other dramatists’......
Albert Brooks is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director who was best known for his comedies. Brooks......
James L. Brooks is an American screenwriter, director, and producer who was active in both television and film......
Mel Brooks is an American film and television director, producer, writer, and actor whose motion pictures elevated......