Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro is among the most creative and visionary artists of his generation, whose distinctive style is showcased through his work as a filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and author.

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, del Toro first gained worldwide recognition for the 1993 Mexican-American co-production Cronos, a supernatural horror film, which he directed from his own screenplay, after beginning his career working as a special effects makeup artist. The film premiered at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Mercedes-Benz Award. It also won more than 20 international awards, including eight Ariel Awards from the Mexican Academy of Film, including Best Director, Best Screenplay and the Golden Ariel.

Del Toro then directed and co-wrote the supernatural thriller The Devil's Backbone, which along with Cronos has appeared repeatedly in Top 10 lists of the best genre films of all time.

In 2004, del Toro directed and co-wrote the action-adventure sci-fi thriller Hellboy, which starred Ron Perlman in the title role. Four years later, he wrote and directed the hit sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

Del Toro earned international acclaim as the director, writer and producer of the 2006 fantasy drama Pan's Labyrinth. He was honored with an Oscar® nomination for his original screenplay for the film, which received five additional Oscar® nominations, including Best Foreign Language Film, and won for Art Direction, Cinematography and Makeup. In all, the film garnered more than 40 international awards and appeared on more than 35 critics' lists of the year's best films.

In 2013, del Toro wrote and directed the epic sci-fi action-adventure Pacific Rim, which starred Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba, and has grossed more than $400 million worldwide. He also created the Couch Gag for the 24th annual "Treehouse of Horror XXIV" Halloween episode of The Simpsons, which aired in October 2013 and garnered more than 20 million views on YouTube.

Del Toro executive produced the worldwide horror hit Mama, which starred Jessica Chastain. Among his other film credits, del Toro produced the supernatural thriller The Orphanage, which became the highest-grossing local language film in Spain's history. In addition, he partnered with fellow Mexican directors Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu to produce Carlos Cuarón Rudo y Cursi and Biutiful, which was written and directed by Iñárritu. Del Toro is the co-screenwriter, with Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson, of the three Hobbit films for New Line Cinema.

On the animation front, del Toro, through his overall deal with DreamWorks Animation, has been an executive producer on the films Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots and Rise of the Guardians. Among his upcoming animation projects are Puss in Boots 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3. In 2014, he produced The Book of Life for Fox Animation and Reel FX. Del Toro is also developing and will co-direct an adaptation of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio, as a 3D, stop-motion feature, which he will also co-produce with The Henson Company.

Del Toro has also turned his attention to publishing. With novelist Chuck Hogan, he co-authored the vampire-horror novel "The Strain," which was published in June 2009 by William Morrow. They have since collaborated on "The Fall" and "The Night Eternal," which make up "The Strain Trilogy." All three books debuted as The New York Times top-10 bestsellers. Hyperion Press published "Trollhunters," a fantasy-adventure novel co-written by Del Toro and Daniel Kraus.

Del Toro and Hogan are also the creators of FX Networks' hit series The Strain, based on the novels. Del Toro directed the opening episode of the first season and also serves as an executive producer on the series, which is about to air its final episode of the second season. Dark Horse Comics issued a graphic novel series adapted from the trilogy.

In 2013, Harper Design published "Guillermo del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions," a lavishly illustrated book containing notes, drawings and untold creatures from del Toro's private journals and filmmaking diaries, with never-before-seen characters, art and ideas of things to come.

Universal Pictures