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