Takeshi Kitano
北野武
Japanese comedian, film director, actor, and multifaceted artist
Film Director 111 profiles
Toshiro Mifune
三船敏郎
Japanese actor, film director, and producer
Teruyoshi Uchimura
内村光良
Comedian, host, and filmmaker — the warm center of Japanese variety entertainment
Ryu Murakami
村上 龍之助
Akutagawa Prize-winning novelist, filmmaker, and television host
Takeshi Fukunaga
福永壮志
Japanese independent filmmaker working between Hokkaido and New York
Shun Oguri
小栗旬
Japanese actor, voice actor, and film director
Kasumi Arimura
有村架純
Award-winning Japanese actress from Hyogo
Yutaka Matsushige
松重豊
Veteran character actor best known for Kodoku no Gourmet
Daisuke Namikawa
浪川大輔
Versatile voice actor, singer, and director from Tokyo
Rinko Kikuchi
菊地凛子
Japanese actress and model from Kanagawa
Yūsuke Iseya
伊勢谷友介
Actor, director, and artist from Tokyo University of the Arts
Hitoshi Matsumoto
松本人志
Legendary Japanese comedian and filmmaker
Masahiko Tsugawa
津川雅彦
Veteran actor, director, and critic from Kyoto
Hitomi Kuroki
黒木瞳
Japan Academy Prize-winning actress and film director from Fukuoka
Shō Aikawa
哀川翔
Actor, singer, and director known as the king of V-cinema
Gekidan Hitori
劇団ひとり
Multifaceted Japanese comedian, actor, novelist, and film director
Shūji Terayama
寺山修司
Japanese avant-garde poet, playwright, and filmmaker
Seiichi Tanabe
田辺誠一
Versatile Tokyo-born actor, director, and screenwriter
Takashi Miike
三池崇史
Prolific Japanese director known for fearless genre-crossing filmmaking
Moyoco Anno
安野モヨコ
Manga artist and author celebrated for unflinching portrayals of women's inner lives
Kinji Fukasaku
深作欣二
Pioneering Japanese director of raw, visceral crime cinema
Mariko Miyagi
宮城まり子
Actress, singer, and founder of Nemunoki Gakuen for children with disabilities
Yukio Ninagawa
蜷川幸雄
Internationally acclaimed Japanese theater director known for his visually bold Shakespeare productions
Momoko Andō
安藤桃子
Japanese film director, screenwriter, and author known for 0.5mm
Kōji Shiraishi
白石晃士
Japanese horror filmmaker known for found-footage features
Yukio Aoshima
青島幸男
Novelist, lyricist, actor, and Tokyo Governor
Keishi Ōtomo
大友啓史
Film and television director known for live-action manga adaptations
Nobuhiko Obayashi
大林宣彦
Visionary Japanese filmmaker known for lyrical fantasy and the Onomichi trilogy
Eiji Tsuburaya
円谷英二
Pioneer of Japanese special effects filmmaking
Gorō Miyazaki
宮崎吾朗
Film director and architect who stepped from landscape design into Studio Ghibli
Kon Ichikawa
市川崑
Master Japanese filmmaker and visual stylist
Naomi Kawase
河瀨直美
Cannes-acclaimed Japanese filmmaker rooted in Nara
Isao Yukisada
行定勲
Japanese film director acclaimed for lyrical, emotionally nuanced cinema
Kinuyo Tanaka
田中絹代
Pioneering actress and one of Japan's first female film directors
Sanjugo Naoki
直木三十五
Japanese author and filmmaker whose name lives on in Japan's Naoki Prize for popular fiction
Shinya Tsukamoto
塚本晋也
Japanese auteur filmmaker, actor, and editor
Yoshiko Okada
岡田嘉子
Pioneer actress and film director of early Japanese cinema
Nobuhiro Yamashita
山下敦弘
Quietly precise Japanese independent filmmaker
Takashi Shimizu
清水崇
Japanese horror film director and screenwriter from Gunma
Kaneto Shindō
新藤兼人
Century-spanning Japanese director and screenwriter honored with the Order of Culture
Seijun Suzuki
鈴木清順
Avant-garde Japanese film director known for his bold, stylized cinema
Daigo Matsui
松居大悟
Multidisciplinary writer-director working across film and theater
Ryusuke Hamaguchi
濱口竜介
Acclaimed Japanese auteur behind Drive My Car
Keiichi Hara
原恵一
Veteran Japanese animation and film director from Gunma
Daisaku Kimura
木村大作
Veteran Japanese cinematographer and film director
Susumu Hani
羽仁進
Pioneer Japanese documentary filmmaker and screenwriter
Hideo Nakata
中田秀夫
Japanese horror film director and author
Junji Sakamoto
阪本順治
Osaka-born film director and screenwriter known for crafting his own scripts
Yoshihiro Nakamura
中村義洋
Japanese film director and screenwriter from Ibaraki
Hiromasa Yonebayashi
米林宏昌
Studio Ghibli animator-turned-director known for intimate, character-driven animated films
Ishirō Honda
本多猪四郎
Architect of Showa-era Japanese genre cinema
Takahisa Zeze
瀬々敬久
Kyoto University-educated filmmaker from Oita, directing and writing Japanese cinema
Kei Ishikawa
石川慶
Japanese film director and screenwriter from Aichi Prefecture
Masuo Ikeda
池田満寿夫
Multidisciplinary Japanese artist and Akutagawa Prize-winning novelist
Isshin Inudo
犬童一心
Japanese film director and screenwriter known for award-winning cinema
Miako Tadano
唯野未歩子
Tokyo-born multihyphenate: actress, novelist, screenwriter, and director
Masami Ōbari
大張正己
Japanese anime animator and film director from Hiroshima
Yasuzō Masumura
増村保造
Bold postwar Japanese film director and screenwriter
Fūka Kakimoto
風香
Multi-disciplinary performer: dancer, wrestler, and filmmaker from Nara
Hiroshi Okuyama
奥山大史
Japanese film director
Hajime Tsuburaya
円谷一
Japanese film director and television producer
Yōjirō Takita
滝田洋二郎
Japanese film director known for Departures
Ayumu Watanabe
渡辺歩
Japanese anime director and animator from Tokyo
Hana Matsumoto
松本花奈
Osaka-born actress turned filmmaker
Daihachi Yoshida
吉田大八
Japanese film director and screenwriter known for quietly perceptive human dramas
Toshirō Ōmi
近江俊郎
Showa-era actor, singer, composer, and film director
Makoto Nagahisa
長久允
Multi-disciplinary Japanese filmmaker and creative director
Tadashi Imai
今井正
Four-time Blue Ribbon Award-winning Japanese film director
Minoru Kawasaki
河崎実
Japanese cult film director and screenwriter known for low-budget genre comedies
Katsuhide Motoki
本木克英
Japanese film director and producer from Toyama
Shinichi Watanabe
ワタナベシンイチ
Japanese screenwriter, voice actor, and film director from Yokohama
Hiroyuki Nakano
中野裕之
Japanese film director and screenwriter from Hiroshima
Kei Kumai
熊井啓
Acclaimed Japanese director known for human-centered, award-winning cinema
Teinosuke Kinugasa
衣笠貞之助
Pioneer Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor from Mie Prefecture
Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
熊切和嘉
Japanese filmmaker who directs, writes, and edits his own work
Kenji Misumi
三隅研次
Japanese film director of the Showa golden era
Kazuhiro Furuhashi
古橋一浩
Veteran anime director and screenwriter from Hamamatsu
Tatsuo Satō
佐藤竜雄
Anime director, screenwriter, and animator from Kanagawa
Hiroshi Inagaki
稲垣浩
Versatile Showa-era Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor
Ureo Egawa
江川宇礼雄
Versatile prewar Japanese filmmaker — director, actor, and screenwriter
Yu Suzuki
鈴木裕
Legendary Japanese game producer behind Out Run, Virtua Fighter, and Shenmue
Koreyoshi Kurahara
蔵原惟繕
Showa-era Japanese film director honored with the Medal with Purple Ribbon
Matsunosuke Onoe
尾上松之助
Pioneer of Japanese silent cinema and kabuki-trained screen actor
Kazuhiro Soda
想田和弘
Japanese documentary filmmaker known for his narration-free observational style
Screaming Mad George
スクリーミング・マッド・ジョージ
Osaka-born Hollywood special effects makeup artist and multidisciplinary filmmaker
Yoshihiro Nishimura
西村喜廣
Japanese splatter horror director and special effects polymath
Kiyoshi Sasabe
佐々部清
Japanese film director and screenwriter known for human-interest cinema
Masao Inoue
井上正夫
Pioneer actor-director of early Japanese cinema
Shūe Matsubayashi
松林宗恵
Japanese film director, screenwriter, and Buddhist monk
Fumihiko Sori
曽利文彦
Osaka-born film director, producer, and screenwriter
Ichirō Sugai
菅井一郎
Japanese actor and film director from Kyoto
Hidenobu Abera
アベラヒデノブ
Osaka-born triple-threat filmmaker: director, actor, and screenwriter
Hiroshi Matsuyama
松山洋
Game industry CEO and film director from Fukuoka
Akihiro Kitamura
北村昭博
Japanese actor, voice actor, and film director with international arts training
Kiki Sugino
杉野希妃
Actress, director, and producer bridging Japanese and Asian cinema
Takashi Watanabe
渡部高志
Japanese animator, film director, and historian from Sapporo
Kōji Yamamura
山村浩二
Japanese independent animation auteur and Order of the Purple Ribbon recipient
Hisayasu Satō
佐藤寿保
Japanese film director and screenwriter from Shizuoka
Denmei Suzuki
鈴木傳明
Prewar Japanese actor, film director, and competitive swimmer
Yutaka Abe
阿部豊
Japanese actor and film director spanning the silent-film era to postwar cinema
Yasuki Chiba
千葉泰樹
Japanese film director and screenwriter of the Showa era
Keigo Kimura
木村恵吾
Japanese screenwriter and film director of the Showa era
Yoshio Inoue
井上芳夫
Showa-era Japanese film director and screenwriter
Hajime Tsutsui
筒井はじめ
Multidisciplinary artist working across photography, painting, film, and music
Masaru Koganei
小金井勝
Early Japanese actor and film director from Osaka
Ruben Fleischer
ルーベン・フライシャー
American film director
Lloyd Kaufman
ロイド・カウフマン
American independent filmmaker
Jonathan Frakes
ジョナサン・フレイクス
American actor and director
Barbara Loden
バーバラ・ローデン
American filmmaker and actress
S. Epatha Merkerson
S・エパサ・マーカーソン
American actress
Joshua Leonard
ジョシュア・レナード
American actor and filmmaker