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Top 100 greatest directors of all time

The greatest film directors of all time, ranked by everyone, one head-to-head pick at a time. Build your own Top 10 and see it next to the world's.

130 film directors, from Charlie Chaplin, Fritz Lang and John Ford to Christopher Nolan, Chloé Zhao and Ryan Coogler. The starting order comes from how many of their films are in our Movies list, their Oscars and how well known they are; after that the votes decide.

  1. Steven Spielberg United States · 1946–
  2. Martin Scorsese United States · 1942–
  3. Stanley Kubrick United States · 1928–1999
  4. Quentin Tarantino United States · 1963–
  5. Christopher Nolan United Kingdom · 1970–
  6. Francis Ford Coppola United States · 1939–
  7. Alfred Hitchcock United Kingdom · 1899–1980
  8. Clint Eastwood United States · 1930–
  9. James Cameron Canada · 1954–
  10. Ridley Scott United Kingdom · 1937–
  11. Robert Zemeckis United States · 1952–
  12. Peter Jackson New Zealand · 1961–
  13. Charlie Chaplin United Kingdom · 1889–1977
  14. Mel Gibson United States · 1956–
  15. George Lucas United States · 1944–
  16. Alejandro González Iñárritu Mexico · 1963–
  17. David Fincher United States · 1962–
  18. Hayao Miyazaki Japan · 1941–
  19. Woody Allen United States · 1935–
  20. Guy Ritchie United Kingdom · 1968–
  21. Akira Kurosawa Japan · 1910–1998
  22. Ron Howard United States · 1954–
  23. Danny Boyle United Kingdom · 1956–
  24. J. J. Abrams United States · 1966–
  25. Sam Mendes United Kingdom · 1965–
  26. Roman Polanski France · 1933–
  27. Billy Wilder Poland · 1906–2002
  28. Tim Burton United States · 1958–
  29. Denis Villeneuve Canada · 1967–
  30. M. Night Shyamalan India · 1970–
  31. Michael Bay United States · 1965–
  32. Sam Raimi United States · 1959–
  33. Sergio Leone Italy · 1929–1989
  34. David Lynch United States · 1946–2025
  35. Steven Soderbergh United States · 1963–
  36. Roland Emmerich Germany · 1955–
  37. Guillermo del Toro Mexico · 1964–
  38. Ingmar Bergman Sweden · 1918–2007
  39. Miloš Forman Czech Republic · 1932–2018
  40. Oliver Stone United States · 1946–
  41. Federico Fellini Italy · 1920–1993
  42. Luc Besson France · 1959–
  43. Matthew Vaughn United Kingdom · 1971–
  44. Zack Snyder United States · 1966–
  45. Rob Reiner United States · 1947–2025
  46. Kathryn Bigelow United States · 1951–
  47. David Cronenberg Canada · 1943–
  48. Todd Phillips United States · 1970–
  49. Wes Anderson United States · 1969–
  50. Paul Thomas Anderson United States · 1970–
  51. Bryan Singer United States · 1965–
  52. Ang Lee Taiwan · 1954–
  53. Sidney Lumet United States · 1924–2011
  54. James Mangold United States · 1963–
  55. John Lasseter United States · 1957–
  56. Yorgos Lanthimos Greece · 1973–
  57. Chris Columbus United States · 1958–
  58. Mike Nichols United States · 1931–2014
  59. Jon Watts United States · 1981–
  60. Brett Ratner United States · 1969–
  61. James Gunn United States · 1966–
  62. Joss Whedon United States · 1964–
  63. Andrei Tarkovsky Russia · 1932–1986
  64. Robert Rodriguez United States · 1968–
  65. Gus Van Sant United States · 1952–
  66. Bong Joon-ho South Korea · 1969–
  67. Jonathan Demme United States · 1944–2017
  68. Sydney Pollack United States · 1934–2008
  69. Buster Keaton United States · 1895–1966
  70. Alfonso Cuarón Mexico · 1961–
  71. Gore Verbinski United States · 1964–
  72. Spike Lee United States · 1957–
  73. Darren Aronofsky United States · 1969–
  74. Adam McKay United States · 1968–
  75. Rian Johnson United States · 1973–
  76. Frank Darabont United States · 1959–
  77. James Wan Malaysia · 1977–
  78. Tony Scott United Kingdom · 1944–2012
  79. Taika Waititi New Zealand · 1975–
  80. Michael Mann United States · 1943–
  81. Brad Bird United States · 1957–
  82. Terry Gilliam United States · 1940–
  83. Joel Schumacher United States · 1939–2020
  84. Orson Welles United States · 1915–1985
  85. Frank Capra Italy · 1897–1991
  86. Martin McDonagh United Kingdom · 1970–
  87. Elia Kazan Turkey · 1909–2003
  88. William Wyler France · 1902–1981
  89. David Lean United Kingdom · 1908–1991
  90. John Carpenter United States · 1948–
  91. François Truffaut France · 1932–1984
  92. Pedro Almodóvar Spain · 1949–
  93. Robert Altman United States · 1925–2006
  94. Fritz Lang Austria · 1890–1976
  95. John Huston United States · 1906–1987
  96. Wes Craven United States · 1939–2015
  97. Sergei Eisenstein Russia · 1898–1948
  98. Lars von Trier Denmark · 1956–
  99. Jean-Luc Godard France · 1930–2022
  100. Antoine Fuqua United States · 1965–

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