Directors
- Woody Allen (1935 - ): Topic Page
Film actor, writer, and director, concerned with mortality, sexual inadequacies, show-business nostalgia, psychoanalysis, and urban living. - Robert Altman (1925 - 2006): Topic PageHe created complex, often loosely plotted movies marked by brilliant and often huge ensemble casting, sharply delineated characters, overlapping dialogue, and an edgy spontaneity.
- Ingmar Bergman (1918 - 2007): Topic PageSwedish director. Made films which are outstanding for their photographic artistry, haunting imagery, and subtle exploration of facial characteristics.
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1946 - 1982): Topic PageGerman filmmaker. One of the most highly regarded and prolific directors of the post–World War II generation.
- Federico Fellini (1920 - 1993): Topic PageItalian film director and screenwriter. His work has been a major influence on modern cinema.
- Werner Herzog (1942 - ): Topic PageGerman director, screenwriter, and producer. One of the leading filmmakers in contemporary German cinema, the prolific Herzog is known for his vivid and poetic films.
- David Keith Lynch (1946- )From Chambers Film Factfinder
American, born in Missoula, Montana. The son of a research scientist, he studied painting before experimenting with film, making his directorial debut with the short film The Alphabet (1967). - Roman Polanski (1933 - ): Topic PagePolish-French film director. Polanski has exhibited a taste for dramatic situations presented with a cool lack of sentimentality and marked by unexpected violence and a sense of irony, black humor, and isolation and dread.
- Martin Scorsese (1942 - ): Topic PageUS director, screenwriter, and producer. One of the most influential figures in modern US cinema, he has made such contemporary classics as Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), GoodFellas (1990), and The Age of Innocence (1993).
New Wave
- Jean-Luc Godard (1930 - ): Topic PageFrench film director and scriptwriter, b. Paris. Godard is probably the most influential of the French New Wave directors.
- Eric Rohmer (1920 - 2010): Topic PageFrench film director, screenwriter, and critic. Part of the French New Wave, his films are often concerned with the psychology of self-deception.
- Francois Truffaut (1932 - 1984): Topic PageFrench film director; leader of French New Wave cinema; films include Jules et Jim (1961) and Baisers volés (1968).
- Roger Vadim (1928 - 2000): Topic PageFrench film and theatre director, actor, and writer. Credited with bringing continental film into mainstream cinema, and leading the way for the New Wave of French film-makers influential in the 1950s and 1960s.
Actors
- Drew Barrymore (1975- )US actor, director, and producer. She became well known for her role in Steven Spielberg's classic feel-good film ET the Extraterrestrial (1982) when she was only seven years old
- Marlon Brando (1924-2004): Topic PageFilm and stage actor, born in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. A product of the New York Actors’ Studio, he made his debut in 1943, and appeared in several plays before achieving fame in A Streetcar Named Desire (1947).
- Sean Connery (1930 - ): Topic PageFilm actor, born in Edinburgh, EC Scotland, UK. In 1963 he was cast in Dr No as Ian Fleming’s secret agent James Bond, a part he subsequently played on seven occasions.
- Robert DeNiro (1943 - ): Topic PageActor and director; his many films include Taxi Driver (1976), The Deerhunter (1978), Midnight Run (1988), Awakenings (1990), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), and Sleepers (1996).
- Robert Duvall (1931- )Actor, born in San Diego, California, USA. He began as a stage actor and made his film debut in To Kill a Mockingbird (1963).
- Clint Eastwood (1930 - ): Topic PageFilm actor and director, born in San Francisco, California, USA.
- Jane Fonda (1937 - ): Topic Page
Best known as a film star, Jane Fonda has also worked as a political activist and since the 1980s has made a name for herself as a fitness expert. - Gene Hackman (1930- ):Topic PageFilm actor, born in San Bernardino, California, USA.
- Dustin Hoffman (1937- ): Topic PageActor, born in Los Angeles, California, USA. A student at the Pasadena Playhouse, he pursued a career on stage and television in New York City, making his Broadway debut in 1961.
- Jeremy Irons (1948- ): Topic PageActor, born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, S England, UK.
- Shirley MacLaine (1934- ): Topic PageFilm actress and writer, born in Richmond, Virginia, USA, the sister of Warren Beatty.
- Laurence Olivier (1907-1989): Topic PageEnglish actor, director, and producer.
- Sean Penn (1960 - ): Topic PageActor, writer, producer, and director, born in Santa Monica, California, USA.
- Robert Redford (1937 - ): Topic PageActor and director, born in Santa Barbara, California, USA.
- Susan Sarandon (1946- ): Topic PageFilm actress, born in New York City, USA.
- Martin Sheen (1940 - ): Topic PageUS actor. Known for his prolific output on stage, television, and film, he established his career in the early 1960s and went on to perform in a variety of roles in a career spanning nearly half a century.
- Meryl Streep (1949- ): Topic PageActress, born in Summit, New Jersey, USA. She studied at Vassar College and Yale Drama School, making her New York stage debut in 1969, and her film debut in 1977
