GUILLERMO DEL TORO
Guillermo del Toro, (born October 9, 1964, Guadalajara, Mexico), Mexican director, screenwriter, and producer who was known for imbuing horror and fantasy films with emotional and thematic complexity. Del Toro developed an interest in both film and horror stories as a child. He began making short films while in high school and later studied filmmaking at the University of Guadalajara. He subsequently learned the art of movie makeup from legendary film makeup artist Dick Smith. Del Toro spent much of the 1980s working as a special-effects makeup artist, and he cofounded Necropia, a special-effects company. Del Toro wrote and directed several episodes of a 1988–90 television horror series Hora marcada before creating and helming his debut feature film, CRONOS (1993). The movie, about the effects of a device that confers immortality, won nine Ariel Awards from the Mexican Academy of Film - including best picture, best director, best screenplay, and best original story - and also received the critics’ week grand prize at the Cannes film festival.
His next movie was an American Miramax production, MIMIC (1997), starring Mira Sorvino. He followed it up with a ghost story set at the end of the Spanish Civil War, THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE (2001). Del Toro won more widespread notice with his comic-book adaptations BLADE II (2002), starring Wesley Snipes, and HELLBOY (2004), which del Toro also had a hand in writing. The visually dazzling and thematically intricate fantasy PAN’S LABYRINTH (2006), which del Toro both wrote and directed, won Academy Awards for makeup, art direction, and cinematography. He then cowrote and directed HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY (2008) and the sci-fi action film PACIFIC RIM (2013), which proved to be more popular worldwide than in the United States. The gothic horror film CRIMSON PEAK (2015) met with mixed reviews. However, the bewitching fantasy romance THE SHAPE OF WATER (2017), for which del Toro wrote the story and cowrote the screenplay, was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won 4, including for best picture. In addition, del Toro garnered the Oscar, the Golden Globe Award, and the BAFTA for best director.