#Actors Who Became Great Directors

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“#Actors Who Became Great Directors”

Actors are used to bringing to life totally different roles in every movie. They portray heroes, villains, lead major productions and even participate in small roles in cameos that often end up granting them prestigious awards. Over time, and with experience, some world-renowned actors discovered a new passion: directing movies. Every once in a while we learn that an actor has decided to go one step further and sit in the director’s chair to carry out a personal project. Many of them even starred in their films in addition to directing them.

It is quite true that acting in a film is not the same as directing it: these are roles that are intended to complement each other very well, yet imply different skills and levels of responsibility. However, the years of experience and the day-to-day routine on different sets have left their mark on many of them and, motivated by what they learned from some of the best filmmakers, they decided to try their chances behind the camera. Some of these actors achieved outstanding results and never made it back to the acting world. Take a look at some of the actors who were able to succeed in directing their own films.

Related: 10 Singers Who Became Great Actors

7 Clint Eastwood

If there is one thing we can say about Clint Eastwood, it is that his talent level is extremely high, both in both acting and in directing. His first cameo was in 1955 in the film Revenge of the Creature, to later be consecrated thanks to his character The Man with No Name in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western trilogy: A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

In 1967 he founded his own production company, The Malpaso Company, along with his financial advisor, Irving Leonard. Among his most critically acclaimed films are Unforgiven (1992), Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Gran Torino (2008), all of which he directed and starred in. In 2021, his last film to date, Cry Macho, was released, in which he played a washed-up rodeo star on an unexpected journey.

6 Halle Berry

As an actress we have seen her brilliant performances in the X-Men saga (2000), and in films such as Monster’s Ball (2001), Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) and The Call (2013). Over the past year she decided to take the plunge into directing, and in November she released her first movie, Bruised, on Netflix, in which she also embodied the role of Jackie Justice, an MMA fighter at the worst moment of her professional career. In the movie Jackie dealt with the return of her son, whom she abandoned as a baby, while preparing for a fight against one of the toughest opponents she could face. The movie also starred Adriane Lenox, Sheila Atim, Valentina Shevchenko and Stephen McKinley Henderson, and it is currently receiving great reviews. However, a few months ago it became embroiled in controversy with MMA fighter Cat Zingano’s complaint against the director.

5 Ben Affleck

He made his screen debut at an early age, in the movie The Dark End Of The Street (1981) and later as the protagonist of the series The Voyage Of The Mimi (1984). Well known for his roles in School Ties (1992) and Dazed and Confused (1993), his acting breakthrough was when he starred alongside Matt Damon, Minnie Driver and Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting (1997), a film co-written by Affleck and Damon that later earned them a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for best original script of the year.

After starring in Armageddon (1998) and Shakespeare in Love (1998), Affleck made his first steps from behind the camera, and in 2007 he directed Gone Baby Gone, starring his brother Casey Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Michelle Monaghan and Amy Ryan. However, the critics’ recognition arrived in 2012 when he directed Argo, a film that won him three Academy Awards, including the trophy for Best Picture.

Affleck has recently decided to team up with director and actor George Clooney to star in The Tender Bar.

4 Jodie Foster

She is one of the most respected and acclaimed actresses of her generation. She made her film debut at a very young age in the movie Napoleon and Samantha (1972), and her first major role arrived in 1976 with Martin Scorsese, when he cast her in Taxi Driver. She won an Oscar for The Accused (1988) and Silence of the Lambs (1991), and also starred in films such as Sommersby (1993), Nell (1994), Maverick (1994), Contact (1997), Panic Room (2002), Hidden Plan (2006) and A Savage God (2011).

In 1991 she amazed everyone by venturing into direction with Little Man Tate, and later she delivered successes such as The Beaver (2011) and Money Monster (2016). She also directed some episodes of series such as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and Black Mirror. In February 2021 had its premiere The Mauritanian, the last film in which she has participated so far, which had excellent ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

Related: 10 Jodie Foster Films We Can’t Live Without

3 Greta Gerwig

In 2006 she made her acting debut in the comedy-drama LOL, directed by Joe Swanberg, and then participated in films such as Greenberg (2010), No Strings Attached (2011), To Rome With Love (2012) and Frances Ha (2012), a film for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. In The Humbling (2014), she portrayed Al Pacino’s partner.

Her directing career began in 2008, when she launched a feature film in association with Joe Swanberg entitled Nights And Weekends. In 2017, she made her debut as a solo director when she released Lady Bird, a film starring Saoirse Ronan. Two years later, she directed Little Women (2019), a film that earned her a nomination for an Academy Award.

Greta is currently working on the movie Barbie, inspired by the world-famous doll and starring Margot Robbie, which will be released in 2023.

2 Jon Favreau

In 1996 Jon Favreau portrayed Pete Becker, Monica Geller’s billionaire boyfriend on Friends. Today, many years after the popular series ended, it is safe to say that the writer, director and producer is, without a doubt, Hollywood’s most successful character in the NBC production.

Director of Iron Man movies, he also served as executive producer of the Avengers saga and played Happy Hogan, Tony Stark’s assistant and driver in several Marvel movies, including Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). That same year he released a live version of The Lion King, which was highly praised, and also what would become his next global hit, The Mandalorian (2019-2020), a series set in the Star Wars universe with Pedro Pascal as the main character.

Jon Favreau will return with his iconic role of Happy Hogan in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

1 John Krasinski

The last place on the list is taken by the Hollywood’s latest rising star. The actor has over twenty years of experience between movies and television, but it wasn’t until he released A Quiet Place (2018) that he caught the eye of everyone in the industry. It was an all-time achievement: Krasinski was the leading actor, director and screenwriter of the movie.

From his debut in 2002, he got a job as an intern on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and eventually established himself in the industry with the opening of The Office (2005), the sitcom led by Steve Carell. John impersonated Jim Halpert, a sales representative of a paper distribution company. This production was so successful that it ran uninterrupted for nine seasons, and Krasinski was given the opportunity to direct a couple episodes.

In 2021, Krasinski premiered the sequel to A Quiet Place in theaters. Another installment of this series is expected, but Krasinski will not return as director.