Ridley Scott
Born: 1937-11-30 in South Shields, County Durham, England, UK
Known For: Directing
Biography
Sir Ridley Leighton Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English filmmaker. He directs films in the science fiction, crime, and historical epic genres with an atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. He ranks among the highest-grossing directors, with his films grossing a cumulative $5 billion worldwide. He has received many accolades, including the BAFTA Fellowship for Lifetime Achievement in 2018, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 and appointed a Knight Grand Cross by King Charles III in 2024. An alumnus of the Royal College of Art in London, Scott began his career in television as a designer and director before moving into advertising as a director of commercials. He made his film directorial debut with The Duellists (1977) and gained wider recognition with his next film, Alien (1979). Though his films range widely in setting and period, they showcase memorable imagery of urban environments, spanning 2nd-century Rome in Gladiator (2000) and its 2024 sequel, 12th-century Jerusalem in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), medieval England in Robin Hood (2010), ancient Memphis in Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), contemporary Mogadishu in Black Hawk Down (2001), futuristic cityscapes of Los Angeles in Blade Runner (1982) and extraterrestrial worlds in Alien, Prometheus (2012), The Martian (2015) and Alien: Covenant (2017). Scott has been nominated for three Academy Awards: Directing for Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, and Black Hawk Down. Gladiator won the Academy Award for Best Picture and received a nomination in the same category for The Martian. In 1995, Scott and his brother Tony received a British Academy Film Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. Scott's films Alien, Blade Runner and Thelma & Louise were each selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In a 2004 BBC poll, Scott was ranked 10 on the list of most influential people in British culture. Scott also works in television and has earned 10 Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He won twice, for Outstanding Television Film for the HBO film The Gathering Storm (2002) and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for the History Channel's Gettysburg (2011). He was Emmy-nominated for RKO 281 (1999), The Andromeda Strain (2008), and The Pillars of the Earth (2010).
Filmography
2026
- The Dog Stars ... (Director)
- The Riders ... (Producer)
2025
- Alien: Earth ... (Executive Producer)
- Trap House ... (Executive Producer)
- Dope Thief ... (Executive Producer)
- Prime Target ... (Executive Producer)
- Echo Valley ... (Producer)
- Thelma & Louise: Born to Live as Self
- Flight 182 ... (Executive Producer)
2024
- Alien: Romulus ... (Producer)
- Gladiator II ... (Director)
- A Sacrifice ... (Producer)
- The Making of Gladiator II as Self
2023
- Napoleon ... (Director)
- Kaleidoscope ... (Executive Producer)
- A Haunting in Venice ... (Producer)
- Faut Voir - L'Hebdo cinéma as Self - Guest
- Boston Strangler ... (Producer)
- Great Expectations ... (Executive Producer)
- Still Missing Morgan ... (Executive Producer)
- Harrison Ford: Hollywood Hero as Self
- L'Âge d'or de la pub as Self (archive footage)
2022
- Death on the Nile ... (Producer)
- Choose or Die ... (Executive Producer)
- Film: The Living Record of Our Memory as Self
2021
- House of Gucci ... (Director)
- The Last Duel ... (Director)
- Directors on Directors as Self
- Naked Singularity ... (Executive Producer)
- Kipchoge: The Last Milestone ... (Executive Producer)
- The Blade Runner Phenomenon as Self - Director (1982)
- The Making of the Last Duel as Self
- Kreka: Dreamcatcher as Self
- Life in a Day 2020 ... (Executive Producer)
2020
- Raised by Wolves ... (Director)
- Jungleland ... (Executive Producer)
- The Donut King ... (Executive Producer)
- Switzerlanders ... (Executive Producer)
2019
- The Hot Zone ... (Executive Producer)
- The Passage ... (Executive Producer)
- The Aftermath ... (Executive Producer)
- Our Friend ... (Executive Producer)
- FX's A Christmas Carol ... (Executive Producer)
- The Last Vermeer ... (Executive Producer)
- Earthquake Bird ... (Producer)
- Sword-and-Sandal: The Story of the Period Epic as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
2018
- The Terror ... (Executive Producer)
- James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction as Self
- Strange Angel ... (Executive Producer)
- Zoe ... (Executive Producer)
- American Woman ... (Producer)
- Trumbull Land as Self (archive footage)
- Thlípsi ... (Thanks)
- The Dream Palace: A People's History of Tyneside Cinema
2017
- The Good Fight ... (Executive Producer)
- Blade Runner 2049 ... (Executive Producer)
- Taboo ... (Executive Producer)
- Alien: Covenant ... (Director)
- Murder on the Orient Express ... (Producer)
- Newness ... (Executive Producer)
- All the Money in the World ... (Director)
- Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House ... (Producer)
- Phoenix Forgotten ... (Producer)
- 2036: Nexus Dawn ... (Screenstory)
- Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives ... (Executive Producer)
- Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies as Self
- Alien: Covenant - Prologue: Phobos ... (Producer)
- Robin Hood - En vert et contre tous as himself
2016
- Morgan ... (Producer)
- Jean-Claude Van Johnson ... (Executive Producer)
- Mindhorn ... (Executive Producer)
- The Long Way Home: Making 'The Martian' as Self
- India In a Day ... (Executive Producer)
2015
- The Man in the High Castle ... (Executive Producer)
- The Martian ... (Director)
- Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter as Self
- Child 44 ... (Producer)
- Concussion ... (Producer)
- Equals ... (Executive Producer)
- Keepers of the Covenant: Making 'Exodus: Gods and Kings' as Self
- Zero ... (Executive Producer)
- Annabel's: A String of Naked Lightbulbs ... (Executive Producer)
2014
- Exodus: Gods and Kings ... (Director)
- Before I Go to Sleep ... (Executive Producer)
- Klondike ... (Executive Producer)
- Halo: Nightfall ... (Executive Producer)
- Get Santa ... (Executive Producer)
- Truth of the Situation: Making 'The Counselor' as Self
- Italy in a Day - Un giorno da italiani ... (Executive Producer)
2013
- The Counselor ... (Director)
- Stoker ... (Producer)
- Out of the Furnace ... (Producer)
- The East ... (Producer)
- Welcome to the Punch ... (Executive Producer)
- Crimes of the Century ... (Executive Producer)
- Trespassing Bergman as Self
- Killing Lincoln ... (Executive Producer)
- Killing Kennedy ... (Executive Producer)
- Springsteen & I ... (Executive Producer)
2012
- Prometheus ... (Director)
- The Grey ... (Producer)
- World Without End ... (Producer)
- Coma ... (Executive Producer)
- Ghost Recon: Alpha ... (Producer)
- The Furious Gods: Making Prometheus as Self
- The Polar Bears ... (Producer)
- Loom ... (Executive Producer)
- Britain in a Day ... (Executive Producer)
- The Peter Weyland Files: TED Conference, 2023 ... (Producer)
- Japan in a Day ... (Executive Producer)
- The Peter Weyland Files: 'Prometheus' Transmission ... (Producer)
- The Peter Weyland Files: Happy Birthday, David ... (Producer)
2011
- Prophets of Science Fiction as Himself - Presenter
- Life in a Day ... (Executive Producer)
2010
- The Pillars of the Earth ... (Executive Producer)
- The A-Team ... (Executive Producer)
- Robin Hood ... (Director)
- Welcome to the Rileys ... (Executive Producer)
- Cyrus ... (Executive Producer)
- The Real Robin Hood as Self
- Rise and Rise Again: Making Ridley Scott's Robin Hood as Self
2009
- The Good Wife ... (Executive Producer)
- Cracks ... (Executive Producer)
- Tell-Tale ... (Producer)
- Into the Storm ... (Executive Producer)
- Actionable Intelligence: Deconstructing 'Body of Lies' as Self
2008
- The Andromeda Strain ... (Executive Producer)
- Body of Lies ... (Director)
- Fallen Empire: Making 'American Gangster' as Self
2007
- American Gangster ... (Director)
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ... (Producer)
- The Company ... (Executive Producer)
- Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner as Self
- Deck-A-Rep: The True Nature of Rick Deckard as Self
- Cinema 16: European Short Films (U.S. Edition) ... (Director)
- Fashion Forward: Wardrobe and Styling as Self
- The Light That Burns: Remembering Jordan Cronenweth as Self
- Sacrificial Sheep: The Novel vs. the Film as Self
2006
- A Good Year ... (Director)
- Tristan & Isolde ... (Executive Producer)
- All the Invisible Children ... (Director)
- 50 Films to See Before You Die as Self
- The Path to Redemption as Self
- Black Rain: Making The Film as Self
- Orpheus ... (Executive Producer)
2005
- Numb3rs ... (Producer)
- Kingdom of Heaven ... (Director)
- In Her Shoes ... (Producer)
- Nos Bastidores de Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
- Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us as Self
- Strength and Honor: Creating the World of 'Gladiator' as Self
- Le court des grands ... (Director)
- Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema as Self
- Strength and Honor: Production Pods as Self
2004
2003
- Matchstick Men ... (Director)
- Cinema16: British Short Films ... (Director)
- Thelma & Louise: The Last Journey as Self
- The Beast Within: Making Alien as Self
2002
- The Gathering Storm ... (Executive Producer)
- AFP: American Fighter Pilot ... (Producer)
- Beat the Devil ... (Executive Producer)
- Ticker ... (Executive Producer)
- Hostage ... (Executive Producer)
- The Alien Saga as Self (archive footage)
- Creating a Myth... the Memories of 'Legend' as Himself
- Duelling Directors: Ridley Scott & Kevin Reynolds as Self
- The Essence of Combat: Making 'Black Hawk Down'
2001
- Black Hawk Down ... (Director)
- Hannibal ... (Director)
- Dino De Laurentiis: The Last Movie Mogul as Self
- Breaking the Silence: The Making of Hannibal as Self
2000
- Gladiator ... (Director)
- Where the Money Is ... (Producer)
- On the Edge of 'Blade Runner' as Self
- The Last Debate ... (Executive Producer)
- Gladiator Games: The Roman Bloodsport as Self
1999
- The Directors as Self
- RKO 281 ... (Executive Producer)
- The Alien Legacy as Self
1998
- Clay Pigeons ... (Producer)
1997
- G.I. Jane ... (Director)
- The Swords ... (Executive Producer)
- Hollywood Halloween as Self
1996
- White Squall ... (Director)
- The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money as Self
1995
- Kulturzeit as self
1994
- Monkey Trouble ... (Executive Producer)
- The Browning Version ... (Producer)
1993
- The King of Ads, Part 2 ... (Director)
1992
- 1492: Conquest of Paradise ... (Director)
1991
- Thelma & Louise ... (Director)
- The King of Ads ... (Director)
1989
- Black Rain ... (Director)
1987
- Someone to Watch Over Me ... (Director)
1986
1985
- Legend ... (Director)
1982
- Blade Runner ... (Director)
1979
- Alien ... (Director)
- Giger's Alien as Self
1977
- The Hollywood Greats
- The Duellists ... (Director)
1968
- One of the Missing as Unionist officer (uncredited)
1967
- Robert ... (Director)
1966
- Adam Adamant Lives! ... (Director)
- The Informer ... (Director)
1965
- Out of the Unknown ... (Production Design)
- Boy and Bicycle ... (Director)
- Some Lapse of Time ... (Production Design)
1962
- Z-Cars ... (Director)
1961
- Comedy Playhouse ... (Production Design)
1960
- Sunday-Night Play ... (Production Design)