1. Quentin Tarantino
   Martin Scorsese
2. Francis Ford Coppola
   Ridley Scott

Martin Scorsese often used his parents, Charles and Catherine, in some of his earliest films. Both of them appeared in "Goodfellas," his mom as the mother of a main character and his father as a prison inmate.

1. Steven Spielberg
   George Lucas
2. Martin Scorsese
   James Cameron

It's hard to believe that no actor in a Steven Spielberg movie was able to bring home an Oscar until Daniel Day-Lewis won the award in 2013. Other actors were nominated, but Day-Lewis' role in "Lincoln" took the cake.

1. Greta Gerwig
   Lorene Scafaria
2. Catherine Hardwicke
   Marielle Heller

Greta Gerwig received a Best Director nomination for "Lady Bird" in 2018. Though she didn't receive a nomination in the Best Director category for "Little Women," Gerwig's screenplay is nominated.

1. Charlie Chaplin
   Sergio Leone
2. Alfred Hitchcock
   Wes Craven

Alfred Hitchcock learned the art of filmmaking while working on silent films in the 1920s. During the decade, he created title cards for the Famous Players-Lasky Company, which would eventually become Paramount Pictures. In this position, he learned how to craft scripts and film scenes.

1. Quentin Tarantino
   Orson Welles
2. David Lean
   Tim Burton

In the early 1990s, Quentin Tarantino had two scripts ready to go: "Reservoir Dogs" and "True Romance." He let Tony Scott pick which script he wanted to direct, choosing "True Romance." That left "Reservoir Dogs" to Tarantino, becoming his directorial debut.

1. George Lucas
   Ron Howard
2. Robert Altman
   Danny Boyle

Before receiving international fame, George Lucas worked as a camera operator during the Rolling Stones 1969 concert at the Altamont Speedway. The footage was turned into a documentary a year later, detailing the tragic death of a fan.

1. Tyler Perry
   Ryan Coogler
2. Spike Lee
   John Singleton

Spike Lee created his own production company in 1978 called 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. The name of the company is based on a promise made to slaves following the Civil War that never came to fruition.

1. Mel Gibson
   Clint Eastwood
2. Robert Redford
   Charlie Chaplin

Clint Eastwood had quite the interesting life even before he made it big in Hollywood. During one incident in 1951, the actor and director survived a plane crash while traveling from Seattle back to California. The plane landed in the Pacific Ocean, and Eastwood swam back to shore.

1. Kathryn Bigelow
   Dee Rees
2. Julia Ducournau
   Ava DuVernay

Despite her gifts as a director, Ava DuVernay has struggled to find distribution companies for her films, a problem many black directors face. To counter this, she helped start the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement, which has gained a lot of support since it began.

1. Wes Craven
   Tim Burton
2. John Carpenter
   David Cronenberg

Tim Burton had an obsession with horror movies from an early age, when he would watch B-rated horror films at a local theater. Burton claims that he was never scared of these movies but, instead, found them captivating.

1. Ryan Coogler
   Barry Jenkins
2. Antonie Fuqua
   Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry started utilizing his famous character Madea, who appears in many of his films, as an accident. The character was originally written as a small part for a play, but the lead actress bailed out of the production, forcing Madea to stay on stage for the entire show.

1. Michael Bay
   Peter Jackson
2. Anthony Russo
   David Yates

The 1994 drama "Heavenly Creatures" helped skyrocket Peter Jackson to the higher echelon of the film industry. Jackson, who helped write the film's screenplay, received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

1. Marielle Heller
   Jennifer Lee
2. Sofia Coppola
   Jane Campion

Like many directors, Sofia Coppola creates films from her own screenplays, but while other directors might take on other screenplays as well, Coppola sticks solely to her own. She finds that creative control is one of the most important components for her as an artist.

1. Quentin Tarantino
   Zach Snyder
2. Christopher Nolan
   Tim Burton

While CGI has become all the rage in recent decades, Christopher Nolan is one director who has decided to use it sparingly. Even in the film "Interstellar," which is set in space, Nolan chose to avoid using a green screen as much as possible, instead building a set for the production.

1. Claire Denis
   Julia Ducournau
2. Andrea Arnold
   Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to ever win the Academy Award for Best Director when she took home the award for "The Hurt Locker." This was one of many first for Bigelow, who has been taking home awards since the '80s.

1. Charlie Chaplin
   Buster Keaton
2. Billy Wilder
   David Lean

Charlie Chaplin was one of the founders of United Artists, which he started with fellow filmmakers because he wanted to keep creative control over his films. The company was later bought by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, one of the largest media companies in the world.

1. Alfred Hitchcock
   Woody Allen
2. Clint Eastwood
   Stanley Kubrick

Two Hollywood icons in Stanley Kubrick and Marlon Brando would have made any film shine, which almost happened when they were set to work on "One-Eyed Jacks" together. However, egos got in the way, and Brando fired Kubrick before filming began.

1. Wes Craven
   John Carpenter
2. David Cronenberg
   Dario Argento

Wes Craven's films often relied on psychological horror to really lure an audience in. Craven was able to capture an audience in this way partly because of his education, as he studied Psychology in undergrad and earned a Master's degree in Philosophy.

1. James Cameron
   Francis Ford Coppola
2. David Fincher
   Ridley Scott

It was as a scriptwriter that Francis Ford Coppola first found international fame in the film industry. His script, "Patton," won several Academy Awards after its release in 1970, including one for Best Original Screenplay.

1. John Ford
   Robert Altman
2. Clint Eastwood
   Woody Allen

A director and screenwriter with 24 Academy Award nominations, Woody Allen has a unique approach to writing where he doesn't use a computer. Instead, he still writes his scripts on a typewriter that he bought as a teenager.

1. David Cronenberg
   Sergio Leone
2. Paul Thomas Anderson
   David Fincher

Directors like to get the perfect shot, but David Fincher is known for taking this to a whole new level. If he finds it necessary, Fincher will shoot a scene over a hundred times to get every angle and moment just right.

1. Akira Kurosawa
   Yasujiro Ozu
2. Hayao Miyazaki
   Hirokazu Kore-eda

To film the climatic battle in "Seven Samurai," Akira Kurosawa's first samurai film, he utilized three cameras at a time because he knew he only had one opportunity to capture certain pieces of action. This technique shaped the future of his film style, as he found it beneficial to cut these shots together in postproduction.

1. David Lynch
   Roman Polanski
2. Ridley Scott
   Orson Welles

Ridley Scott is a master at capturing the atmosphere of an urban environment in a variety of settings. From ancient Rome in "Gladiator" to the futuristic cities in "Blade Runner," Scott has an insight into city life that few other directors have.

1. Michael Kang
   Tze Chun
2. Ang Lee
   Quentin Lee

Ang Lee found some success while he was still studying for his Master of Fine Arts in Film and Television at New York University. For his thesis work, he created the film "Fine Line," which won the NYU Wasserman Award for Outstanding Direction.

1. Orson Welles
   Billy Wilder
2. Charlie Chaplin
   John Ford

Orson Welles' earliest acting experience was actually the result of a lie. When he was 16, he traveled to Dublin, where he claimed to be a theater star from New York. The lie got him several roles throughout Ireland, as he started to craft his performance resume.

1. Kathryn Bigelow
   Kelly Reichardt
2. Andrea Arnold
   Maren Ade

Kelly Reichardt chooses to tell stories about untraditional characters who are drifters and outcasts across the American landscape. She often leaves it up to the viewer to make decisions on these characters, like if they're heroes or villains, justified or irrational.

1. John Ford
   David Lynch
2. Roman Polanski
   Billy Wilder

John Ford has a record four Academy Awards for Best Director, which shows just how important he was to the film industry. The films to win the award are "The Informer," "The Grapes of Wrath," "How Green Was My Valley" and "The Quiet Man."

1. Franco Zeffirelli
   Bernardo Bertolucci
2. Federico Fellini
   Sergio Leone

Sergio Leone was famous for his "Dollars Trilogy," which starred and helped launch the career of Clint Eastwood. The trilogy also popularize Spaghetti Westerns, which were Westerns created by Italians.

1. Barry Jenkins
   John Singleton
2. Tyler Perry
   Lee Daniels

John Singleton took inspiration from two legends in the entertainment business: Steven Spielberg and August Wilson. Singleton saw a "20/20" special about a Spielberg film that turned him toward directing, and Wilson's play "Fences" inspired Singleton to start writing.

1. Lynne Ramsay
   Marielle Heller
2. Greta Gerwig
   Patty Jenkins

Patty Jenkins had a huge hit in 2003 when her film "Monster" hit the big screens. Though she had several other projects on the back burner, including one starring Ryan Gosling, she wouldn't direct another movie until "Wonder Woman" in 2017.

1. John Huston
   Howard Hawks
2. Paul Thomas Anderson
   Fritz Lang

Paul Thomas Anderson's film "There Will Be Blood" competed directly against the Coen Brothers' film "No Country for Old Men" at the Oscars. An odd aside to this rivalry: Both of the films were shot in Marfa, Texas, and at one point, a fire from Anderson's set caused the Coens' brother set to shut down for a day.

1. Oliver Stone
   Wes Anderson
2. Frank Capra
   Sidney Lumet

To create a realistic football movie with "Any Given Sunday," Oliver Stone used real professional players and coaches. Some of the names that appeared in the movie are Lawrence Taylor, Pat Toomay, Warren Moon and Emmitt Smith.

1. Lynne Ramsay
   Tamara Jenkins
2. Dee Rees
   Julie Dash

Dee Rees has been offered the opportunity to work on studio films, but she prefers to stick with her own independent projects. With award winning films like "Mudbound," she seems to be making the right choice for her career.

1. William Wyler
   Frank Capra
2. John Huston
   Howard Hawks

An Italian immigrant who came to the United States at the start of the 20th century, Frank Capra's story is the definition of the American dream. Struggling throughout his youth, Capra is the only one of his siblings to attend college, though his degree in chemical engineering would be put aside when he discovered film.

1. Ron Howard
   Michael Bay
2. David Lynch
   Spike Jonze

Michael Bay has never been one to shy away from big-budget films, evident by his decision to take on the "Transformer" series, which has grossed over $7 billion. His love of special effects can be seen not only in that series but also in films like "Armageddon" and "Pearl Harbor."

1. Debra Granik
   Jennifer Lee
2. Karyn Kusama
   Catherine Hardwicke

Catherine Hardwicke started her film career as a production designer, working on movies like "Tombstone," "The Newton Boys" and "Three Kings." She made her directorial debut in 2003 with the film "Thirteen," which she cowrote with 14-year-old Nikki Reed.

1. Brian De Palma
   Robert Zemeckis
2. D.W. Griffith
   Jean Renoir

One of Brian De Palma's earliest films was "Carrie," based on a Stephen King novel of the same name. Despite its release in 1976, critics claim "Carrie" is one of the best adaptations of a King novel to date.

1. Luis Bunuel
   Fritz Lang
2. Sidney Lumet
   Howard Hawks

Sidney Lumet was a hit in the film industry from the moment he stepped behind the camera, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Director for his first film, "12 Angry Men." He was nominated several more times for the award, though he never actually received it.

1. Sarah Polley
   Sam Taylor-Johnson
2. Susanne Bier
   Anna Boden

Sam Taylor-Johnson was put in charge of directing "Fifty Shades of Grey," which was a major success at the box office. However, Taylor-Johnson was not happy with the final product, and she decided to not return for the next movie. She continues to make films despite the setback.

1. Tim Story
   Gordon Parks
2. Lee Daniels
   Ernest Dickerson

Lee Daniels is proof that a director doesn't need to go to film school to be successful. Instead, Daniels learned on the fly while working on sets, managing actors. He credits this time with helping shape how he builds relationships with other performers.