Martin Scorsese

Guide Note

Considered by many to be one of the greatest film director of his era, Martin Scorsese was nominated for best director five times before receiving an Academy Award for The Departed in 2007. The Departed also won him best director awards from the Golden Globes and the Director's Guild of America. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 1997, founded the World Cinema Foundation and is president of the Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation.

Fast Facts

1. Full name: Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese
2. Born: November 17, 1942
3. Birthplace: New York City, New York
4. Has been married five times
5. Considered becoming a priest before studying film at New York University
6. Was a film studies instructor at NYU, where he taught Oliver Stone and Spike Lee
7. Won a best director Golden Globe for Gangs of New York in 2003
8. Scorcese and his family members appear in cameo roles in many of his films
9. Often works with Robert DeNiro
10. The Rolling Stones' music is featured on many Scorcese movie soundtracks

Although his films take place in various settings and explore a variety of topics, his main characters are often desperate individuals struggling to find and maintain their identities within an oppressive social structure. An Italian-American Roman Catholic himself, many of Scorcese's movies touch on themes of redemption and guilt, machismo and include scenes of graphic violence.

1. "There is no such thing as pointless violence."
2. "Because of the movies I make, people get nervous, because they think of me as difficult and angry. I am difficult and angry, but they don't expect a sense of humor. And the only thing that gets me through is a sense of humor."
3. "Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out."