Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, screenwriter, and producer born on October 9th, 1964, in Guadalajara, Mexico. He’s known for movies such as Cronos (1993), The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Hellboy (2004), and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). He started his interest in filmmaking at age 8 with his father’s camera, making short films with toys. He studied special effects makeup with artist Dick Smith for roughly a decade, working on makeup effects and establishing the company Necropia before releasing his first film, Cronos, in 1993.

Del Toro married Lorenza Newton in 1986; the couple has two daughters. He divorced Newton in 2017 and remarried screenwriter Kim Morgan, whom he wrote Nightmare Alley (2021) with. He won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director for The Shape of Water (2017) and Best Animated Feature for Pinocchio (2022). He also received Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay for Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and The Shape of Water, as well as Best Picture for Nightmare Alley (2021). He continues to live in Los Angeles and work on films in both English and Spanish to this day.