Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro Gómez, a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist, is renowned for his strong connection to fairy tales, gothicism, and horror, often blending the genres. He has a lifelong fascination with monsters, which he perceives as symbols of significant power. Insectile and religious imagery, themes of Catholicism, anti-fascism, celebrating imperfection, underworld motifs, practical special effects, and dominant amber lighting are prevalent in his work. His career is marked by a shift 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), Pacific Rim (2013), Crimson Peak (2015), The Shape of Water (2017), and Pinocchio (2022). As a producer and writer, he contributed to films like The Orphanage (2007) and The Hobbit film series (2012–2014), and created the Netflix anthology horror series Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities in 2022. Alongside Chuck Hogan, he co-authored The Strain trilogy of novels, later adapted into a comic-book series and a TV series. Del Toro is also recognized as part of 'The Three Amigos of Mexican Cinema' along with Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Throughout his career, he has received several prestigious awards.