Guillermo del Toro
Directing • Born 1964-10-09
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.
Filmography
114 credits
07 Spaceys
Movie • 2007
Deck-A-Rep: The True Nature of Rick Deckard
Movie • 2007
Self
Nexus Generation: Fans & Filmmakers
Movie • 2007
Self
The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't
Movie • 2008
Self
I'm No Longer Here: A Discussion with Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón
Movie • 2020
Self
Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy
Movie • 2005
Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown
Movie • 2008
Self
Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner
Movie • 2007
Self
Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of Hitchcock
Movie • 2008
Self
Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds
Movie • 2023
Self
El último truco
Movie • 2008
Self
Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan
Movie • 2012
Self
Men in Suits
Movie • 2012
Self
Dario Argento: Panico
Movie • 2024
Self
El Santos vs la Tetona Mendoza
Movie • 2012
Gamborimbo Ponx (voice)
Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics
Movie • 2013
Self
George Pal: Un Marciano De Hollywood En Argentina
Movie • 2023
Edith Head: Dressing the Master's Movies
Movie • 2008
Self
Temple of Film: 100 Years of the Egyptian Theatre
Movie • 2023
Self
Zombie Lover
Movie • 2011
Interviewee
Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock
Movie • 2009
Self
Drew: The Man Behind the Poster
Movie • 2013
Self
Light in the Darkness: The Impact of Night of The Living Dead
Movie • 2018
Self
Metal Gear Solid: Legacy
Movie • 2015
Self
Bullfighter
Movie • 2000
Bullboy #2
Bernard Herrmann: Hitchcock's Maestro
Movie • 2008
Self
Horror Europa with Mark Gatiss
Movie • 2012
Self
Starz Inside: Comic Books Unbound
Movie • 2008
Self
Extraordinary Tales
Movie • 2015
Narrator (voice) (segment 'The Pit and the Pendulum')
Boris Karloff: The Rest of the Story
Movie • 2022
Self
The Giant's Dream: The Making of the Iron Giant
Movie • 2016
Self
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio: Handcarved Cinema
Movie • 2022
Self
Guillermo del Toro: Un director y su Oscar
Movie • 2018
Guillermo del Toro
Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex
Movie • 2015
Self
Lennon or McCartney
Movie • 2014
Self
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
Movie • 2011
Self
Puss in Boots
Movie • 2011
Comandante / Hombre del bigote (voice)
The First Hundred Feet, the Last Hundred Feet
Movie • 2015
Self
The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style
Movie • 2009
Self
North by Northwest: One for the Ages
Movie • 2009
Self
78/52
Movie • 2017
Self
Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business
Movie • 2020
Self
Hellboy: In Service of the Demon
Movie • 2008
Self
Hellboy: The Seeds of Creation
Movie • 2004
Self
Saul Bass: Title Champ
Movie • 2008
Self
Five Came Back
Movie • 2017
Self
In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy
Movie • 2008
Self
The Book of Life
Movie • 2014
Land of the Remembered Captain's Wife (voice)
Que es un Fantasma?: The Making of 'The Devil's Backbone'
Movie • 2004
Self
Surrealistic Nightmares: An In-Depth Look at Walloon Horror Cinema
Movie • 2025
Self
Spanish Gothic
Movie • 2013
Self
The Color and the Shape
Movie • 2007
Self
Pan and the Fairies
Movie • 2007
Self
The Power of Myth
Movie • 2007
Self
The Melody Echoes the Fairy Tale
Movie • 2007
Self
Guillermo del Toro Interviews Paul Williams
Movie • 2014
Self
Masters of Horror
Movie • 2002
Self
The Digital Artistry of Pacific Rim
Movie • 2013
Self
The House Is Alive: Constructing 'Crimson Peak'
Movie • 2019
Self
Torrente 3: The Protector
Movie • 2005
Contacto Giannina (scenes deleted)
The Light and Dark of Crimson Peak
Movie • 2016
Self
A Living Thing
Movie • 2016
Hand Tailored Gothic
Movie • 2016
Self
I Remember Crimson Peak
Movie • 2016
Himself
Crimson Phantoms
Movie • 2016
Diary of the Dead
Movie • 2007
Newsreader (voice) (uncredited)
Bloody And Groovy Baby! A Tribute to Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2
Movie • 2018
Self
Love, Antosha
Movie • 2019
Self
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
Movie • 2010
Creature (Voice)
Making Apes: The Artists Who Changed Film
Movie • 2019
Self
Drew Struzan: An Appreciation of An Artist
Movie • 2008
Self
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Movie • 2008
Creature Vocals (voice) (uncredited)
Hellboy
Movie • 2004
Guy Dressed as Dragon (uncredited)
Cronos
Movie • 1993
Man Walking Dog (uncredited)
The Fire Rises: The Creation and Impact of The Dark Knight Trilogy
Movie • 2013
Self
Quantum of Solace
Movie • 2008
Additional Voices (voice)
Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters
Movie • 2022
Self
When Romero Met Del Toro
Movie • 2017
Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster
Movie • 2021
Self
Mollusk
Movie • 2025
Reclaiming 'Mimic'
Movie • 2011
Self
A Leap in Evolution: The Creatures of 'Mimic'
Movie • 2011
Self
Back Into the Tunnels: The Making of 'Mimic'
Movie • 2011
Self
The Blood Pact: The Making of 'Blade II'
Movie • 2002
Self
Partners in Crime: Hitchcock's Collaborators
Movie • 2008
Self
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
Movie • 2025
Self
Netflix Tudum 2025
Movie • 2025
Self
Noin
Movie • 2003
Guillermo del Toro
The Thing Expanded
Movie • 2026
Self
Sangre del Toro
Movie • 2025
Self
It’s a Mad Max World
Movie • 2025
Self
The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
Movie • 2025
Frankenstein: The Anatomy Lesson
Movie • 2025
Self - Writer / Director
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
TV • 2003
Self
HypaSpace
TV • 2002
Self
The Director's Chair
TV • 2014
Self
Barry
TV • 2018
El Toro
Five Came Back
TV • 2017
Self
The Late Late Show with James Corden
TV • 2015
Self - Guest
The Game Awards
TV • 2014
Self
Elvis Goes There
TV • 2019
Self
Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities
TV • 2022
Self - Host (uncredited)
James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction
TV • 2018
Self
The Simpsons
TV • 1989
Guillermo del Toro (voice)
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
TV • 2015
Self
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
TV • 2005
Pappy McPoyle
Leonardo da Vinci
TV • 2024
Self
Directors on Directors
TV • 2021
Self
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Nominee
Futurama
TV • 1999
Guillermo del Toro's Head (voice)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Self
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
TV • 2003
Self - Guest
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Self - Guest