Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese (born November 17, 1942, in Queens, New York City) is one of American cinema’s defining directors and a central voice of the New Hollywood era. Across a career spanning decades, he has earned top honors including an Academy Award, multiple BAFTAs and Emmys, and major lifetime achievement tributes, while several of his films have been selected for the U.S. National Film Registry.

Educated at New York University, Scorsese emerged in the late 1960s and soon developed a signature style: kinetic editing, expressive slow motion and freeze frames, voice-over narration, and unflinching violence. Rooted in his Italian-American upbringing and Catholic imagination, his stories often probe crime, masculinity, guilt, and redemption—qualities that crystallized in films like Mean Streets and reached global acclaim with the Palme d’Or-winning Taxi Driver.

His collaborations are legendary, from Robert De Niro in Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and The Irishman to Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator, The Departed, and The Wolf of Wall Street. Scorsese has also expanded into television and documentaries, including music films and personal essays on film history.

Beyond directing, he is a leading advocate for preservation, founding organizations dedicated to restoring and safeguarding world cinema. He also appears on screen in notable credits such as The Searchers: An Appreciation and Scorsese’s GoodFellas, and as a voice performer in Shark Tale.