Personal Info
Known For:
Directing
Birthday:
October 9, 1964
Place of Birth:
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Social Media
Guillermo del Toro
Biography
Guillermo del Toro Gómez (Spanish: [ɡiˈʝeɾmo ðelˈtoɾo]; born 9 October 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales, gothicism, and horror, often blending the genres to infuse visual or poetic beauty into the grotesque. He has had a lifelong fascination with monsters, which he considers symbols of great power. He is known for pioneering dark fantasy in the film industry and using insectile and religious imagery, his themes of Catholicism, and celebrating imperfection, underworld motifs, practical special effects, and dominant amber lighting.
Throughout his career, del Toro has shifted between Spanish-language films—such as Cronos (1993), The Devil's Backbone (2001), and Pan's Labyrinth (2006)—and English-language films, including Mimic (1997), Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and its sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army(2008), Pacific Rim (2013), Crimson Peak (2015), The Shape of Water (2017), Nightmare Alley (2021), and Pinocchio (2022).
As a producer or writer, he worked on the films The Orphanage (2007), Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010), The Hobbit film series (2012–2014), Mama (2013), The Book of Life (2014), Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019), and The Witches (2020). In 2022, he created the Netflix anthology horror series Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, featuring a collection of classical horror stories.
With Chuck Hogan, he co-authored The Strain trilogy of novels (2009–2011), which was later adapted into a comic book series (2011–15) and a live-action television series (2014–17). With DreamWorks Animation and Netflix, he created the animated franchise Tales of Arcadia, which includes the series Trollhunters (2016–18), 3Below (2018–19), and Wizards (2020) and the sequel film Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021).
Del Toro is close friends with fellow Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, collectively known as "The Three Amigos of Mexican Cinema". He has received several awards, including three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award, and a Golden Lion. He was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018, and he received a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019.
Known For
Filmography
| Year | TV Show | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Leonardo da Vinci | Self |
| 2022 | Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities | Self - Host (uncredited) |
| 2022 | Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities | |
| 2021 | Variety Studio: Directors on Directors | Self |
| 2019 | Elvis Goes There | Self |
| 2018 | Barry | El Toro |
| 2018 | James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction | Self |
| 2017 | Five Came Back | Self |
| 2015 | The Late Late Show with James Corden | Self - Guest |
| 2015 | Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter | Self |
| 2014 | The Director's Chair | Self |
| 2014 | The Game Awards | Self |
| 2005 | It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia | Pappy McPoyle |
| 2003 | Jimmy Kimmel Live! | Self |
| 2002 | HypaSpace | Self |
| 1989 | The Simpsons | Guillermo del Toro (voice) |
| 1953 | The Oscars | Self |
| 1944 | Golden Globe Awards | Self - Winner |