Born in Tyne and Wear, England, on Nov. 30, 1937, Ridley Scott trained at West Hartlepool Art School, went to the Royal College of Art and eventually landed a job at the BBC, where he worked as a designer and director on several TV series in the 1960s.

Scott's first major feature film was The Duellists (1977) with Harvey Keitel. He followed this with a string of groundbreaking movies, including Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), 1991's Thelma & Louise (for which Scott received his first Best Director Oscar nomination) and 2000's Gladiator (which earned him a second Oscar nod).

Never allowing himself to be tied down to any particular film genre, in 2001 Scott tackled the Silence of the Lambs sequel, Hannibal, and Black Hawk Down (Scott's third Oscar nomination). He also directed the con-artist dark comedy Matchstick Men (2003), followed by the Crusades-era epic Kingdom of Heaven (2005).