Martin Scorsese

Director

About

Also Known As

Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese

Birth Place

Flushing, New York, USA

Born

November 17, 1942

Biography

Filmography

The 50 Year Argument (2014)

Director

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Director

Hugo (2011)

Director

A Letter to Elia (2010)

Director

Photos & Videos

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30th Anniversary of the Film Foundation: The Killers, 1964, Martin Scorsese

Raging Bull (1981) -- (Original Trailer)

Biography

MARTIN SCORSESE (Director/Producer/Writer) is an Academy Award-winning director and one of the most influential filmmakers in cinematic history. He has directed critically acclaimed, award-winning films such as Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Hugo (2011), Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). His impressive body of work features some of the most daring and influential films of all time.

Throughout his career, Scorsese has created films with themes that explore shocking violence and human cruelty while simultaneously investigating human frailty and religious reverence. He made his mark on Hollywood as a key figure who shifted away from conventional moviemaking to usher in a new and unique era of American cinema. Scorsese has won an Academy Award for Best Directing; four BAFTAs; the Palme d'Or, the Carosse d'Or, and Best Director from the Cannes Film Festival; a Silver Lion for Best Directing, a Golden Career Lion, and multiple other awards from the Venice Film Festival; and he was presented with an Honorary Golden Berlin Bear Award in 2024 as well as multiple Lifetime Achievement Awards from festivals globally.

Scorsese's legacy in cinema remains his devotion to the craft of filmmaking and his work in preserving the cultural heritage of film, which is why he was TCM's inaugural recipient of the 2018 Robert Osborne Award at the TCM Classic Film Festival. Scorsese's advocacy for film preservation and restoration is further exemplified in the three nonprofit organizations he founded: The Film Foundation, established in 1990; The World Cinema Foundation in 2017; and the African Film Heritage Project, established in 2017.

Born in New York City, New York on November 17, 1942, Scorsese grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in Little Italy. He grew up having severe asthma that kept him indoors, so he often went to the movies with his family, fostering what would become a lifelong devotion. When he was eight, he began sketching elaborate shot-by-shot retellings of movies he had seen in the theater. By the time he reached 12, the sketches became originals. He later told Dick Cavett in 1978 he always had trouble reading which resulted in his strong visual-mindedness. The Catholic Church was another present force throughout his youth, and he had early aspirations to become a priest. He attended seminary during his adolescence but soon after chose a different path.

Scorsese attended New York University, where he earned his bachelor's in English. As an undergrad, he directed his first short film, "What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?" (1963), a nine-minute short about a man's fixation with a recently purchased photograph and the trapping effects it has on his life. The short featured early non-credited editing from Scorsese's longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker, who met the director while she was attending a summer course in filmmaking at NYU. Scorsese directed a second short, "It's Not Just You, Murray!" (1964), before graduating, then quickly moved into NYU's master's program for filmmaking in 1966. He made his third short "The Big Shave" in 1967.

While pursuing his master's, Scorsese made his directorial debut with Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967), starring Harvey Keitel as a working-class Italian American from Little Italy who starts dating an educated, uptown girl (Zina Bethune). When he finds out she's not a virgin, he must reckon with his own internal conflict spurred by his Catholic upbringing. First developed as a short, then filmed on and off for four years, the film displays many of the elements that would eventually become Scorsese trademarks-fluid camera movements, a pulsating soundtrack, and a visceral portrayal of violence. Despite its showing at the 1967 Chicago Film Festival, the film sat for another two years before receiving a theatrical release.

Meanwhile, Scorsese began teaching at NYU, where he helped fellow student Michael Wadleigh as an assistant director and editing supervisor on Woodstock (1970), which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary. In 1971, Scorsese moved to Los Angeles, where he took a work-for-hire gig with Roger Corman, directing the Depression-era crime thriller Boxcar Bertha (1972). Upon seeing a rough cut of the film, Scorsese's friend, director John Cassavetes, encouraged him to make his own films.

Scorsese then set to work on what would become his breakthrough film, Mean Streets, a gritty, semi-autobiographical tale that marked the first of many landmark collaborations with actor Robert De Niro. Scorsese returned to the streets of Little Italy for his setting where he explores the struggles of a young hood (Keitel) who tries to save the neck of his hotheaded best friend (De Niro) from the wrath of a local loan shark, while at the same time struggling to reconcile his Catholic guilt over his reckless lifestyle. Though mostly shot in Los Angeles, Mean Streets brilliantly conveyed the teeming violence and despair of Manhattan's Lower East Side. The film turned De Niro and Keitel into overnight stars. After a showing at the New York Film Festival, Mean Streets was released to wide critical acclaim, earning a spot on The New York Times' "Ten Best Films in 1973" list.

Scorsese followed up with Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), a bittersweet tale about a Southwest housewife (Ellen Burstyn) who goes on the road to fulfill her dream of being a lounge singer after her husband's sudden death, only to flee her new, abusive boyfriend (Keitel) and take a job as a waitress at a diner run by a loudmouth cook (Vic Tayback). The film was a critical and box-office success that netted Burstyn an Oscar for Best Actress and spawned the CBS sitcom Alice two years later.

Taxi Driver premiered in 1976. Penned by Paul Schrader, the film marked Scorsese's second collaboration with De Niro, who delivered a tour-de-force performance as Travis Bickle, a lonely, eccentric New York City cab driver whose revulsion towards the underground city life leads him to violently attempt to save a teenage prostitute (Jodie Foster) from her pimp (Keitel). On his appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Scorsese said he shot the film in 40 days on a $1 million budget. While the film garnered a share of controversy for its bloody finale, Taxi Driver went on to earn four Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture and eventually went down in cinema history as one of the most iconic films of the New Hollywood era.

Firmly established as one of the top directors of his generation, Scorsese was praised for his experimental and daring films but also returned to his documentary roots with The Last Waltz (1978), a film hailed as one of the finest rock concert movies of all time. Filmed in 1976, the documentary showcased The Band's farewell performance at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom, bringing audiences upfront for a close look at an exceptional concert highlighted by guest performances by Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, and many others.

Scorsese kicked off the 1980s by directing what many consider his masterpiece, Raging Bull. Filmed in black-and-white, the picture is a searing and unyielding look at former middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta, who after becoming the 1949 champion, loses everything due to his self-destructive, violent nature. Raging Bull was later regarded as one of the top movies ever made. The film earned Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Picture. De Niro scored his second Oscar win for Best Actor.

For his next film, Scorsese examined the effects of fame in The King of Comedy (1982), which cast De Niro as a wannabe stand-up comic living in his mother's basement. He plans to kidnap a famous late-night talk show host (Jerry Lewis) to get a spot on his show. The film served as an inspiration for the 2019 film Joker. Scorsese's low-budget cult film After Hours (1985) followed and won Scorsese Best Director awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the Independent Spirit Awards. The dark, screwball comedy set in Manhattan follows a yuppie (Griffin Dunne) who goes on a bizarre one-night adventure with a Soho woman (Rosanna Arquette) he meets at a café.

Scorsese moved to Chicago for The Color of Money in 1986, a sequel to The Hustler (1961), with Paul Newman reprising his role of pool shark 'Fast' Eddie Felsen and Tom Cruise as his protégé. The Color of Money earned wide critical praise and gave Newman his first and only Oscar win for Best Actor. Shortly after, Scorsese made history with the MTV generation when he directed the 18-minute music video for Michael Jackson's hit song "Bad." He then returned to his childhood dream of making a movie about Jesus. Scorsese made the intensely personal The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988, an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel of the same name written by Paul Schrader. The film depicts Jesus (Willem Dafoe) as a spiritual, but human, teacher battling the desire to live a normal life of flesh versus his spiritual calling to a higher purpose.

Scorsese opened the 1990s with his high-energy ensemble film Goodfellas in 1990, which critics and fans alike have consistently ranked as one of the best films of all time. The film reunited De Niro and Scorsese for the sixth time. Scorsese adapted Nicholas Pileggi's 1985 novel Wiseguy about small-time gangster-turned-Federal witness Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). As a half-Irish, half-Italian youth, Hill is taken under the wing of Jimmy Conway (De Niro), a mid-level mobster who shows him the gangster life. Along with a hot-tempered Sicilian friend (Joe Pesci), the three embark on a decades-long spree of robbery and murder that eventually leads to a breakdown of their once strictly held moral code to each other and their bosses. Pesci's performance earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Scorsese remade the chilling 1962 thriller Cape Fear in 1991, enlisting Nick Nolte as the lawyer who becomes the targeted ire of recently released felon Max Cady (De Niro). Cape Fear was a significant box-office hit. It was drastically different from Scorsese's next film, The Age of Innocence (1993), a Victorian romance based on Edith Wharton's 1920 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. A subtle drama of manners set in the high society of 19th century New York, Scorsese used dynamic directing, sumptuous color, and vibrant decor to tell the story of an aristocratic lawyer (Daniel Day-Lewis) struggling with his passion for the beautiful cousin (Michelle Pfeiffer) of his fiancé (Winona Ryder).

Scorsese returned to yesteryear crime with Casino (1995), his eighth collaboration with De Niro. Set in the 1970s and "80s and focused on the mafia, Casino is a vibrant look at a corrupt Las Vegas casino owner (De Niro) who lives and breathes the odds for gambling but has trouble figuring out his hustler wife (Sharon Stone) and trusting his best friend (Pesci). Scorsese closed out the 1990s with the story of the Dalai Lama, Kundun (1997); the psychotropic drama Bringing Out the Dead (1999) starring Nicholas Cage; and My Voyages to Italy (1999), his return to documentaries and a look at the history of the Italian cinema that deeply influenced his style and career.

Scorsese spent a few years working on his 2002 epic Gangs of New York starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz. A sweeping look at the New York immigrant riots of the late 19th century, Gangs of New York was hailed as another mighty achievement from Scorsese. Lavishly staged and photographed and featuring a powerhouse performance from Day-Lewis as the delightfully savage Bill the Butcher, the film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Scorsese's fourth Best Director nomination. He took home a Golden Globe, and the film won an AFI Award for Movie of the Year.

Scorsese reunited with DiCaprio two years later for The Aviator (2004), a lavish biopic of the legendary billionaire Howard Hughes. The film was first developed by screenwriter John Logan with Michael Mann attached to direct. Scorsese was later brought on to replace Mann. He happily accepted as he had felt a certain kinship with the obsessive-compulsive Hughes and was impressed with the way the script zeroed in on a specific era of Hughes' life, covering Hughes' early days as a Hollywood studio head to his bitter battle with the U.S. government over his airline. The Aviator won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture. It also led the Academy Awards pack with 11 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, Scorsese's fifth nomination.

In 2006, Scorsese made a triumphant return to form with his next film The Departed. The crime thriller loosely based on the Hong Kong action film Infernal Affairs (2002) focuses on Billy Costigan (DiCaprio), a young undercover cop assigned to infiltrate a mob syndicate run by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). As Costigan gains Costello's confidence, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a member of the boss's gang, has managed to infiltrate the Boston police department. Each man becomes consumed by their double life as their true identities are on the brink of being exposed. Schoonmaker, who has consistently edited more than 25 of Scorsese's films, won her third Oscar for Best Editing. The Departed secured Scorsese with a win at the Golden Globe Awards for Best Director. It also marked his first Oscar for Best Director. Scorsese's longtime friends, peers, and fellow winners Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas presented him with the award.

Scorsese briefly crossed over into television to direct "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" in 2005, a long-form episode of the PBS series American Masters. The Emmy-nominated documentary looks at the influential folk singer's early years spanning 1961-66. Scorsese would revisit Dylan's life and music in 2019 with the concert documentary Rolling Thunder Revue, which looked at the reinvention of Dylan during his 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour. Scorsese further contributed to rock music legacy when he gathered 18 cameras and spent two nights filming the Rolling Stones at the Beacon Theatre in New York in the fall of 2006. The footage of which became the concert documentary Shine a Light (2008).

Scorsese reteamed with DiCaprio for the fourth time in Shutter Island (2010), a period mystery set in the 1950s about two U.S. Marshals (DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo) sent to a federal institution for the criminally insane to capture a violent escapee. It was at this point in his career that Scorsese received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 67th Annual Golden Globes presented to him by both De Niro and DiCaprio. That same year, he served as executive producer of HBO's television series Boardwalk Empire, a period drama following an organized crime figure (Steve Buscemi) ruling over Prohibition-era Atlantic City. Scorsese directed the pilot episode earning him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series in 2011.

At the end of 2011, Scorsese released his next feature, Hugo, an inventive children's adventure about a young boy (Asa Butterfield) whose anonymous life living inside a busy Parisian train station is turned upside-down after meeting a young girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her godfather, pioneering director George Méliès (Sir Ben Kingsley). The film won Scorsese his third Golden Globe for Best Director, and Hugo garnered 11 Academy Award nominations. Scorsese returned to musician-based documentaries in 2011 when he directed and won an Emmy for the HBO documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World. In the documentary, Scorsese revisits the former Beatle's career and how his conversion to Hinduism shaped his beliefs and music.

The director scored another critical and box-office hit with his Oscar-nominated 2013 black comedy The Wolf of Wall Street based on the true story of a corrupt financial trader (DiCaprio) and the financial schemes that made him a multi-millionaire in the 1990s. Scorsese continued his foray into television in 2016 when he co-created and directed the first episode of the short-lived but acclaimed HBO series Vinyl, which serves as a love letter to the 1970s American music scene told through a shrewd New York City A&R music label executive (Bobby Cannavale).

It took Scorsese over two decades to make and release his passion project picture Silence in 2016, before returning to the gangster genre in 2019 with The Irishman. The latter film earned 10 Oscar nominations and was praised for the groundbreaking technology used to de-age Robert De Niro in his role as the real-life hitman and enforcer Frank Sheeran. Continuing with his prowess for making trailblazing pictures every decade, Scorsese produced, co-wrote, and directed the 2023 drama Killers of the Flower Moon. The picture tells the true story of the 1920s Osage nation's rising wealth from oil fields in Oklahoma and how several were murdered in a plot to usurp their wealth. DiCaprio returned for his sixth film with Scorsese as did De Niro in his tenth. The film earned its lead actress Lily Gladstone a Golden Globe win for Best Actress making her the first Indigenous woman nominated in the Best Actress category.

As of this writing, Scorsese has five upcoming projects in various stages of production.

Filmography

Life Events

Photo Collections

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - Movie Posters

Mean Streets - Movie Poster

Here is the American one-sheet movie poster for Mean Streets (1973), directed by Martin Scorsese. One-sheets measured 27x41 inches, and were the poster style most commonly used in theaters.

The King of Comedy - Movie Poster

Here is a half-sheet movie poster from The King of Comedy (1983), directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis.

The Last Waltz - Lobby Cards

Here are several Lobby Cards from The Last Waltz (1978). Lobby Cards were 11" x 14" posters that came in sets of 8. As the name implies, they were most often displayed in movie theater lobbies, to advertise current or coming attractions.