Photo: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
I have a soft spot for filmmakers who refuse to apologize for their own voice, and Shyamalan is the purest example I know. After The Sixth Sense made him a household name, critics spent years writing him off, yet he kept betting on his own strange ideas — and Split proved the bet right. What I admire most is not the twist endings everyone fixates on; it is his stubborn faith that mainstream audiences will follow a sincere, peculiar premise if you commit to it completely. From Mahé, India to a multi-billion-dollar box office, his career reads like one of his own scripts: doubted for years, then vindicated.
Overview
Manoj Nelliyattu "M. Night" Shyamalan ( SHAH-mə-lahn; born August 6, 1970) is an American filmmaker. His films often employ supernatural plots and twist endings. The cumulative gross of his films exceeds $3.3 billion globally. Shyamalan has received various accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards and a Golden Globe.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- M. Night Shyamalan
- Name (Japanese)
- M・ナイト・シャマラン
- Reading
- M・ないと・しゃまらん
- Born
- August 6, 1970 (age 55)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Leo / Dog
- Origin
- Mahé, Kannur district, India
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- film director / film producer / writer / actor / screenwriter
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- New York University Tisch School of the Arts
Awards & achievements
- Padma Shri in arts
- 2018 Sitges Grand Honorary Award
- 2006 Great Immigrants Award
- Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | The Sixth Sense | — | |
| Notable work | Unbreakable | — | |
| Notable work | Signs | — | |
| Notable work | The Village | — | |
| Notable work | Split | — | |
| Notable work | Glass | — |
6. Links
Film director — see all → · Film producer — see all → · More people from India →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.