
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.
Acting (84 movies)

07 Spaceys
2007

Deck-A-Rep: The True Nature of Rick Deckard
2007

The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't
2008

I'm No Longer Here: A Discussion with Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón
2020

Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy
2005

Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown
2008

Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner
2007

Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of Hitchcock
2008

Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds
2023

El último truco
2008

Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan
2012

Men in Suits
2012

Dario Argento: Panico
2024

El Santos vs la Tetona Mendoza
2012

Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics
2013

George Pal: Un Marciano De Hollywood En Argentina
2023

Edith Head: Dressing the Master's Movies
2008

Temple of Film: 100 Years of the Egyptian Theatre
2023

Drew: The Man Behind the Poster
2013

Light in the Darkness: The Impact of Night of The Living Dead
2018

Metal Gear Solid: Legacy
2015

Bullfighter
2000

Bernard Herrmann: Hitchcock's Maestro
2008

Horror Europa with Mark Gatiss
2012

Starz Inside: Comic Books Unbound
2008

Extraordinary Tales
2013

The Giant's Dream: The Making of the Iron Giant
2016

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio: Handcarved Cinema
2022

Guillermo del Toro: Un director y su Oscar
2018

Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex
2015

Lennon or McCartney
2014

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
2011

Puss in Boots
2011

The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style
2009

North by Northwest: One for the Ages
2009

78/52
2017

Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business
2020

Hellboy: In Service of the Demon
2008

Hellboy: The Seeds of Creation
2004

Saul Bass: Title Champ
2008

Five Came Back
2017

In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy
2008

The Book of Life
2014

Que es un Fantasma?: The Making of 'The Devil's Backbone'
2004

Surrealistic Nightmares: An In-Depth Look at Walloon Horror Cinema
2025

Spanish Gothic
2013

The Power of Myth
2007

The Color and the Shape
2007

Pan and the Fairies
2007

Guillermo del Toro Interviews Paul Williams
2014

Masters of Horror
2002

The Digital Artistry of Pacific Rim
2013

The House Is Alive: Constructing 'Crimson Peak'
2019

Torrente 3: The Protector
2005

The Light and Dark of Crimson Peak
2016

I Remember Crimson Peak
2016

Hand Tailored Gothic
2016

A Living Thing
2016

Crimson Phantoms
2016

Diary of the Dead
2007

Bloody And Groovy Baby! A Tribute to Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2
2018

Love, Antosha
2019

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
2010

Making Apes: The Artists Who Changed Film
2019

Drew Struzan: An Appreciation of An Artist
2008

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
2008

Hellboy
2004

Cronos
1993

The Fire Rises: The Creation and Impact of The Dark Knight Trilogy
2013

Quantum of Solace
2008

Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters
2022

Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster
2021

Mollusk
2025

Reclaiming 'Mimic'
2011

A Leap in Evolution: The Creatures of 'Mimic'
2011

Back Into the Tunnels: The Making of 'Mimic'
2011

The Blood Pact: The Making of 'Blade II'
2002

Partners in Crime: Hitchcock's Collaborators
2008

Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
2025

Netflix Tudum 2025
2025

Noin
2003

Sangre del Toro
2025

It’s a Mad Max World
2025

The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
2025
Directing (15 movies)

Pan's Labyrinth
2006

The Devil's Backbone
2001

Hellboy
2004

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
2008

Mimic
1997

Cronos
1993

Blade II
2002

Pacific Rim
2013

Geometry
1987

Crimson Peak
2015

Mrs. Lupe
1986

Frankenstein
2025

The Shape of Water
2017

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
2022

Nightmare Alley
2021