Ridley Scott

Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English filmmaker. His work includes science fiction, crime, and historical epic films, with an atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott is the eighth-highest-grossing director of all time, with his films grossing a cumulative $5 billion worldwide. He has received numerous accolades including two Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as nominations for four Academy Awards, eight BAFTA Awards, and a Grammy Award. He has also been honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship for Lifetime Achievement in 2018 and the Academy Honorary Award in 2026. Scott was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003, and appointed a Knight Grand Cross by King Charles III in 2024.

An alumnus of the Royal College of Art in London, Scott began his career in television as a designer and director before moving into advertising as a director of commercials. He made his film directorial debut with The Duellists (1977) and gained wider recognition with his next film, Alien (1979). Though his films range widely in setting and period, they showcase memorable imagery of urban environments, spanning 2nd-century Rome in Gladiator (2000) and its 2024 sequel, 12th-century Jerusalem in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), medieval England in Robin Hood (2010), ancient Memphis in Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), contemporary Mogadishu in Black Hawk Down (2001), futuristic cityscapes of Los Angeles in Blade Runner (1982), and extraterrestrial worlds in Alien, Prometheus (2012), The Martian (2015) and Alien: Covenant (2017).

Scott has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director three times, for Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator, and Black Hawk Down, while also receiving a nomination for Best Picture for The Martian. In 1995, both Scott and his brother Tony received a British Academy Film Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. Three of his films—Alien, Blade Runner, and Thelma & Louise—have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In a 2004 BBC poll, Scott was ranked 10 on the list of most influential people in British culture.