M. Night Shyamalan

M. Night Shyamalan (born Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan on August 6, 1970, in Mahé, India) is an American filmmaker and occasional screen actor celebrated for original, contemporary supernatural stories and signature twist endings. Raised in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, he has long drawn on the atmosphere of the Philadelphia region, where many of his films are set and shot.

He made his feature directing debut with Praying with Anger (1992), followed by the coming-of-age comedy-drama Wide Awake (1998). Shyamalan broke through globally with The Sixth Sense (1999) and continued a strong run with Unbreakable (2000) and Signs (2002), cementing his reputation as a distinctive voice in suspense and genre cinema.

His later period included divisive but often commercially potent titles such as The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender, and After Earth. After that setback, he regained momentum with The Visit, Split, and Glass, completing the Unbreakable trilogy. He has also produced and developed stories (including Devil), contributed as a writer, and appears in cameos in projects like Signs and Knock at the Cabin. In 2008, India honored him with the Padma Shri.