Martin Scorsese

Easily on any short list of America's all-time great directors, Martin Scorsese is an incredibly eclectic filmmaker who is frequently drawn to characters that defiantly--and often violently--chart their own courses, regardless of the consequences. Born and raised in New York City, Scorsese became an important figure in the Hollywood Renaissance of the ‘70s by paying homage to his Italian-American heritage and the gritty urban surroundings of his youth, creating some of the most memorable scenes in 20th-century cinema. After all, nobody is likely to forget Robert De Niro's vengeful cabbie threatening his reflection in Taxi Driver ("You talkin' to me?") or Joe Pesci's confrontational mobster grilling Ray Liotta in Goodfellas ("Funny like I'm a clown? I amuse you?"). Not content to merely stay with his strong suit of hard-hitting NYC-based dramas, Scorsese has also ventured into moving rock documentaries, evocative period pieces, spiritual journeys, and chilling thrillers, never settling comfortably into any one niche. An outspoken cinephile and film historian, Scorsese was passed over five (yes, five) times for a Best Director Oscar before he finally received an Academy Award in 2007 for The Departed--fittingly enough, the award was jointly presented by his pioneering peers Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Francis Ford Coppola, revealing a reverence rarely shown to any living director.