The 20 best actors-turned-directors so far this century

Ben Affleck is the only actor turned director on this list to have won an Academy Award for Best Picture. He won it as a producer on 2013’s , although he wasn’t even nominated for best director—a headline-making snub that people talked about for days (Ang Lee won for , btw). Since making his directing debut in 2007 with the lauded , Affleck has been able to weave in and out of both acting and directing roles, having made six features to date with two more currently in development.

Whether it comes to comedy or drama, you can always bank on Elizabeth Banks (so sorry)—and we have, for more than 20 years, thanks to her acting work in , series, and . Then of course there was , which she produced and starred in, and in 2015 Banks made her directing debut with its sequel. Women directors don’t get nearly the attention of their male counterparts, but Banks seems to be on a mission to change that—just take a look at her wacky horror-comedy if you have any doubt.

Though he only has four directing credits, star Zach Braff has worked with his fair share of screen legends: think Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin, and Christopher Lloyd. Braff has said the key to getting these icons to listen to him is to have a clear game plan. In the trailers for his subsequent directing work, you’ll usually see “From the director of ” writ large. It was his 2004 directing debut, remains his best-reviewed film, and landed him on everyone’s list of the most interesting young filmmakers in Hollywood.

From winning Oscars to establishing philanthropic ventures to founding a tequila company that sold for a billion dollars, is there nothing George Clooney can’t do? He has eight film directing credits under his belt, with The Boys In The Boat coming up (starring Joel Edgerton, who is also on this list). His directing output has been hit () and miss (, oy!), but give the guy credit for trying his hand at everything from historical dramas to political thrillers.

Cooper has evolved from a handsome and funny sidekick (both human and raccoon) to an Academy Award-nominated movie star working with the likes of Clint Eastwood and Paul Thomas Anderson. In 2018, he added “successful director” to his resume with , both helming and starring in the classic saga’s fourth big-screen incarnation. His chemistry with Lady Gaga was so palpable that people speculated they were a real couple offscreen. Next up is , a biopic about composer Leonard Bernstein that Cooper is directing and starring in and has Oscar contender written all over it.

Since 2006’s , Dano has carved out a name for himself by working with directors like Paul Thomas Anderson and Denis Villeneuve and acting heavyweights like Daniel Day-Lewis and Michael Caine. Clearly he learned a little something along the way, given his directorial debut, the quietly devastating 2018 indie . In this domestic drama, a son helplessly watches his parents’ marriage melt down in their small 1960s Montana town. Dano’s fearlessly sure-handed approach lets the stars shine, particularly Carey Mulligan as a pre-feminist mother who descends into a midlife crisis. It’s a slow burn that lets every scene unfold with crushing results.

Joel Edgerton, an actor known for and , burst onto the directing scene in 2015 with the disturbing sleeper hit , in which he stars as a creeper terrorizing an old schoolmate and his wife. In 2018, he sealed the deal as a director on the rise with , a haunting, hard-to-watch drama based on the memoir of a young gay man sent to conversion therapy in the American South. Drawing out top-shelf performances from the likes of Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe, Edgerton (who also co-wrote the film) shows he is a true actor’s director.

Jon Favreau sneaks onto our 21st-century list thanks to 2001’s , which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and starred in. Then came the smash hit in 2003. But it’s with 2008’s  that he changed film history by kicking off the golden age of Marvel movies, a remarkable run that has spanned 15 years and counting. Favreau can also take credit for heeding fans’ cries to cast Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man at a time when the beleaguered actor couldn’t buy a role in Hollywood, thus setting up a comeback for the ages. So money, indeed.

Greta Gerwig, an indie darling known for her mumblecore films and her collabs with partner Noah Baumbach, didn’t make her solo directing debut until in 2017 (she co-directed 2008’s  with Joe Swanberg). The film put her squarely on the industry’s list of ones to watch. She was nominated for a Best Director Oscar for Lady Bird, a raw, authentically real, coming-of-age tale starring Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet. And proving it was no fluke, Gerwig’s next film, , was glowingly praised as a thoroughly modern take on the classic novel.

Audiences are more familiar with Jonah Hill’s chops as an actor than a director, but his two helming efforts thus far are absolutely worth a watch. You may have missed 2018’s R-rated dramedy , Hill’s take on growing up in 1990s L.A. with a group of skater kids. He cast the film with local skaters rather than training actors to skate, shot it on Super 16mm, and paired it to a note-perfect soundtrack. Then in 2022, Hill’s documentary explored his mental health journey, sitting down with his psychiatrist, the world-renowned Phil Stutz, to explore his unique therapeutic style. Stutz sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s been a minute since we’ve seen this triple threat actress-producer-director go behind the camera—her most recent directorial effort was 2017’s critically lauded , the true story of a girl living through the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime. It’s her strongest work yet in a spotty directing career that also includes , , and . Regardless, Jolie deserves kudos for her refusal to shy away from difficult subjects and social injustice. about starring in Jolie’s upcoming Without Blood, “Angelina is the best director I’ve ever worked with.”

When star Michael B. Jordan took the reins on , he called up other actors-turned-directors like Bradley Cooper, Denzel Washington, and Jon Favreau for advice on how to multitask and when to say “action” and “cut.” The wildly successful result? A directing debut that hit $100 million on its opening weekend, and made people sit up and take notice. Creed III is an entertaining, visually thrilling sports flick that’s less about boxing than it is about the drama behind the boxing. Jordan has said he’s now caught the directing bug, and we’re here for it.

For years, award-winning multi-hyphenate Regina King has been respected in the industry as a TV director. In 2020, she finally transferred her skills to film with Inspired by a true anecdote, the film sees Black icons Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gather at a Florida motel to watch (and celebrate) Clay’s 1964 heavyweight championship victory over Sonny Liston. It would have been easy to deify these cultural superstars, but King deftly allows each to have their standout moment without any of the melodrama. And since the film is basically 110 minutes of watching four men in a hotel room, it’s something to be said that you remain riveted in your seat the entire time.

Since NBC’s debuted in 2004, John Krasinski has been entertaining us in front of the camera, and behind the camera, too, honing his directing chops on a few episodes. But in 2018 he blew everyone away with , a horror thriller whose concept involved everyone … not speaking. Sounds like a terrible idea on paper, but Krasinski was able to ratchet the tension up with inventive visuals and convincing emotion to create one of that year’s most unexpected monster hits. was equally nerve-racking, so it should be interesting to see how the third movie—not directed by Krasinski — compares in 2024.

Eva Longoria, known for TV’s , had been directing television for a decade before tackling a feature film, 2023’s highly publicized , about the Frito-Lay employee supposedly responsible for the invention of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Is the story true? Not really. Does it matter? Not really. Longoria delivers an inspiring, endearing snack of a film that hits just the right notes of suspense and spicy sweetness to make you want to give the entire cast a warm hug. And that’s pretty impressive when you’ve just been fed a lie.

Given Jordan Peele’s background on and as one half of Key & Peele, one might’ve thought his directing debut, 2017’s , would have landed in horror-comedy territory. Instead, he turned in a seriously scary movie that subtly spliced in social commentary—and became the film everyone talked about that year. After winning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Get Out, he followed it up with successful directing turns for  (2019) and (2022). One of the most provocative directors working today, we’re waiting with bated breath for his fourth movie, scheduled to be released in 2024.

As an actress, you may remember Sarah Polley as part of the indie crowd that came up in the ’90s with movies like and . But by the end of the decade, she dipped into directing with a few short films. Then in 2008, Polley hit her stride with the masterful , which she wrote and directed, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Since then she’s focused on her directing career—and showed she’s the real thing by winning the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for 2022’s , a film she also directed.

For her feature debut, Olivia Wilde cast an ensemble of young people, including non-pro actors, in , a 2019 coming-of-age comedy about two overachieving teens dead-set on having a night of fun—think with girls. Critics called the R-rated comedy “exhilarating” and it earned a 96% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewers were less kind to her follow-up effort in 2022, but we still have high hopes for Wilde’s directing future.

We’ve been watching Denzel Washington’s disciplined, cerebral brand of film acting since the ’80s, which is why you might be surprised to learn he only directed his first film in 2002 (the solidly crafted ). five years later proved he was equally at home behind the camera as in front of it, and 2016’s was a worthy film version of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Though he has no directing gig lined up in the near future, we’ll happily settle for his starring role in the third movie coming in September.