Movie, TV & Stage Directors, MAY-PHI
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
Elaine May is an American comedian, actor, writer, and director who is known for her sardonic wit, her caustic......
Archie Mayo was an American film director who, during a 20-year career, developed a reputation as an able craftsman.......
Paul Mazursky was an American actor, writer, and director whose films, which often explored relationships, were......
Leo McCarey was an American director and writer who was perhaps best known for his light comedies, notably the......
Martin McDonagh is a British-Irish playwright and filmmaker whose work blends vibrant dialogue, exceptionally dark......
Ewan McGregor is a Scottish actor of stage, film, and television who is perhaps best known for his portrayal of......
Adam McKay is an American writer, director, producer, and occasional performer who forged a career as one of the......
Norman Z. McLeod was an American film director who was best known for his comedies, especially those with the Marx......
Steve McQueen is a British director, screenwriter, and artist best known to the general public for his feature-length......
Sanford Meisner was an actor and one of the most influential teachers of acting in the United States after World......
Jean-Pierre Melville was a French motion-picture director whose early films strongly influenced the directors of......
Sam Mendes is an English film and theatre director who is known for his innovative treatments of classic stage......
William Cameron Menzies was an American set designer, one of the most influential in filmmaking, whose work on......
Burgess Meredith was an American actor and director who, in a career that spanned nearly seven decades, played......
Vsevolod Yemilyevich Meyerhold was a Russian theatrical producer, director, and actor whose provocative experiments......
Nancy Meyers is an American writer, director, and producer who was best known for her romantic comedies, several......
Oscar Micheaux was a prolific African American producer and director who made films independently of the Hollywood......
Lewis Milestone was a Russian-born American film director who was especially known for his realistic dramas, many......
Ray Milland was a Welsh-born American actor. Milland made his film debut in 1929 and moved to Hollywood in 1930.......
George Miller is an Australian director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in a diverse range of genres but......
Jonathan Miller was an English actor, director, producer, medical doctor, and man of letters noted for his wide-ranging......
Bertram Mills was an English circus entrepreneur who for 18 years (1920–37) staged a circus at London’s Olympia......
Vincente Minnelli was an American motion-picture director who infused a new sophistication and vitality into filmed......
Lin-Manuel Miranda is an American actor, composer, lyricist, and writer who created and starred in stage productions......
Miyazaki Hayao is an influential Japanese anime director whose lyrical and allusive works have won both critical......
Mizoguchi Kenji was a Japanese motion-picture director whose pictorially beautiful films dealt with the nature......
Robert Montgomery was an American actor and director who won critical acclaim as a versatile leading actor in the......
Michael Moore is an American filmmaker, author, and political activist, who is best known for a series of documentaries—often......
Robert Morley was a prolific English actor, director, and playwright whose forte was comedy and comedy-drama. Morley......
Errol Morris is an American film director, known for his engaging documentary portraits of both ordinary and extraordinary......
Carlton E. Morse was a U.S. radio writer and producer. He worked as a newspaper reporter before joining NBC radio......
Viggo Mortensen is an American actor known for his striking demeanour and understated persuasiveness in roles ranging......
Ivan Moskvin was a Russian actor of stage and screen whose career is closely identified with the Moscow Art Theatre,......
Hrishikesh Mukherjee was an Indian filmmaker who, in a Bollywood career that spanned more than four decades (1953–98),......
Robert Mulligan was an American director who was best known for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Although his films......
F.W. Murnau was a German film director who revolutionized the art of cinematic expression by using the camera subjectively......
Eddie Murphy is an American comedian, actor, and singer who was a dominant comedic voice in the United States during......
Ryan Murphy is a producer, director, and writer of television and film who has built a successful and prolific......
Musidora was a French silent-film actress most noted for her roles in Louis Feuillade’s crime serials Les Vampires......
Georges Méliès was an early French experimenter with motion pictures, the first to film fictional narratives. (Read......
Mira Nair is an Indian-born director known for her documentaries and feature films dealing with controversial subject......
Jean Negulesco was a Romanian-born artist and director who first gained notice for his film noirs and later made......
Roy William Neill was an Irish-born film director best known for his work with Basil Rathbone on a popular series......
Ralph Nelson was an American director who first garnered attention for his live television productions and later......
László Nemes is a Hungarian director whose first feature film, the Holocaust drama Saul fia (2015; Son of Saul),......
Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko was a Russian playwright, novelist, producer, and cofounder of the famous Moscow......
Shirin Neshat is an Iranian-born American artist whose photography, video, and feature films investigate how women......
Caroline Neuber was an actress-manager who was influential in the development of modern German theatre. Rebelling......
Paul Newman was an American actor and director whose striking good looks, intelligence, and charisma became hallmarks......
Mbongeni Ngema was a South African playwright, composer, choreographer, and theatrical director known largely for......
Mike Nichols was an American motion-picture, television, and stage director whose productions focus on the absurdities......
Jack Nicholson is one of the most prominent American motion-picture actors of his generation, especially noted......
Leonard Nimoy was an American actor known for his portrayal of the stoic, cerebral Mr. Spock in the science fiction......
Christopher Nolan is a British film director and writer acclaimed for his noirish visual aesthetic and unconventional,......
Mabel Normand was an American film actress who was one of the greatest comedians of the silent era. Known for her......
Edward Norton is an American actor known for his intense performances and uncompromising approach to his work.......
Elliott Nugent was an American actor, writer, and director who was best known for such light film comedies as The......
Trevor Nunn is an English theatre director who, as artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC; 1968–86)......
Rudolf Nureyev was a Soviet-born ballet dancer whose suspended leaps and fast turns were often compared to Vaslav......
Kola Ogunmola was a Nigerian actor, mime, director, and playwright who took Yoruba folk opera (drama that combines......
Nikolay Pavlovich Okhlopkov was a Soviet experimental-theatrical director and producer. He was one of the first......
Manoel de Oliveira was a Portuguese filmmaker, known for richly meditative and often self-reflexive films that......
Laurence Olivier was a towering figure of the British stage and screen, acclaimed in his lifetime as the greatest......
Ermanno Olmi was an Italian motion-picture director whose early work examined life in the business world and whose......
Roberto Omegna was a motion picture cameraman, director, and producer of documentaries, and one of the pioneers......
Max Ophüls was a German motion-picture director whose mastery of fluid camera movement gave his films a characteristic......
Ruth Orkin was an American photographer and filmmaker known for her explorations of contemporary urban life. Her......
Ozu Yasujirō was a motion-picture director who originated the shomin-geki (“common-people’s drama”), a genre dealing......
G.W. Pabst was a German film director whose films were among the most artistically successful of the 1920s. Pabst’s......
Al Pacino is an American actor best known for his intense, explosive acting style. After growing up in East Harlem......
Marcello Pagliero was an Italian motion picture director, screenwriter, and actor who worked primarily outside......
Marcel Paul Pagnol was a French writer and motion-picture producer-director who won both fame as the master of......
Alan J. Pakula was an American motion-picture director, producer, and screenwriter who evoked exceptional performances......
George Pal was a Hungarian-born animator, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the science-fiction......
Jafar Panahi is an Iranian director whose films are critical depictions of Iranian society. As a teenager, Panahi......
Vito Pandolfi was an Italian critic, theatrical scholar, and director known for his adherence to traditional forms......
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival and......
Sergey Yosifovich Paradzhanov was an Armenian director of lyrical, visually powerful films whose career was curtailed......
Alan Parker was a British director, writer, and producer who worked in a wide range of genres; his notable films......
Trey Parker is an American screenwriter, actor, and producer, best known as the cocreator, with Matt Stone, of......
Gordon Parks was an American author, photographer, and film director who documented African American life. The......
Francesco Pasinetti was an Italian motion picture director, historian, critic, comedy writer, screenwriter, and......
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian motion-picture director, poet, and novelist, noted for his socially critical,......
Tony Pastor was an American impresario and comic singer, considered the father of vaudeville in the United States.......
Giovanni Pastrone was a pioneer Italian motion picture director and producer. As a teenager Pastrone demonstrated......
Dev Patel is a multifaceted English actor of Indian descent who rose to international fame after starring in Slumdog......
Pawel Pawlikowski is a Polish-born British film director and screenwriter whose acclaimed works notably included......
Alexander Payne is an American director, screenwriter, and producer noted for creating films that mix sardonic......
Sam Peckinpah was an American motion-picture director and screenwriter who was known for ultraviolent but often......
Jordan Peele is an American comedian, writer, director, and producer who is known for creating both comedy and......
Arthur Penn was an American motion-picture, television, and theater director whose films were noted for their critical......
Sean Penn is an American film actor and director known for his versatility and intense performances. The son of......
Anthony Perkins was an American actor who was best remembered for his portrayal of the murderous motel owner Norman......
Antoinette Perry was an American actress and director in whose honour the American theatre’s Tony Awards are named.......
Frank Perry was an American director of wide-ranging films who was best known for David and Lisa (1962), Diary......
Tyler Perry is an American playwright, actor, screenwriter, producer, and director whose works—in which he often......
Elio Petri was an Italian motion-picture director and screenwriter. Petri’s formal education was limited; most......
Dadasaheb Phalke was a motion picture director who is considered the father of the Indian cinema. Phalke was credited......
Samuel Phelps was a British actor and manager, one of the most famous actors of the 19th century. Early in life......
Irna Phillips was an American radio and television writer who developed the modern soap opera. She worked as a......