Quentin Jerome Tarantino (March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker and actor. His films are characterized by nonlinear storylines, aestheticization of violence, extended scenes of dialogue, ensemble casts, references to popular culture and a wide variety of other films, soundtracks primarily containing songs and score pieces from the 1960s to the 1980s, alternate history, and features of neo-noir.
He made his directorial debut on the independent crime thriller Reservoir Dogs (1992), with Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and Lawrence Tierney; which was funded by money from the sale of his script True Romance (1993), directed by Tony Scott; and Natural Born Killers (1994), directed by Oliver Stone. His second film, Pulp Fiction (1994), with John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Christopher Walken, and Bruce Willis; was a huge success among critics and audiences. The film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards (including Best Picture), with Tarantino being nominated for Best Director and winning for Best Original Screenplay.
He then collaborated with fellow filmmakers Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, and Robert Rodriguez on the anthology film Four Rooms (1995), with Roth Antonio Banderas, Jennifer Beals, Paul Calderon, Sammi Davis, Valeria Golino, Madonna, David Proval, Ione Skye, Lili Taylor, Marisa Tomei, and Tamlyn Tomita. He also appeared in Rodriguez’s Desperado (1995), with Banderas, Joaquim de Almeida, Salma Hayek, Buscemi, Cheech Marin, and Danny Trejo. He also wrote the screenplay for and co-starred in the Rodriguez directed vampire film From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), with George Clooney, Keitel, Juliette Lewis, and Hayek. His third feature was Jackie Brown (1997), with Pam Grier, Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, and Robert De Niro.
His fourth film was the two part martial arts revenge epic Kill Bill (2003, 2004), collectively with Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Madsen, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, Sonny Chiba, Julie Dreyfus, Chiaki Kuriyama, Gordon Liu, and Michael Parks. He guest directed a scene in Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s Sin City (2005), with Clive Owen and Benicio Del Toro. He and Rodriguez then teamed up to make Grindhouse (2007) – which consisted of Planet Terror, with Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, and Marley Shelton; and Death Proof with Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Zoë Bell. Tarantino acted in both.
He received his second Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for the WWII alternate history film Inglourious Basterds (2009), with Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger, Mélanie Laurent, August Diehl, Dreyfus, Sylvester Groth, Jacky Ido, Denis Ménochet, Mike Myers, Rod Taylor, and Martin Wuttke. He won a second Best Original Screenplay Academy Award for Django Unchained (2012), with Jamie Foxx, Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Jackson, Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, Parks, and Don Johnson.
His eighth film was the western The Hateful Eight (2015), with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demián Bichir, Roth, Madsen and Bruce Dern, James Parks, Channing Tatum, and Dana Gourrier. He received his 3rd Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, along with 2nd for Best Director, and first for Best Picture on the period drama Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), with DiCaprio, Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Austin Butler, Dakota Fanning, Dern, and Al Pacino.
Tarantino’s films have garnered both critical and commercial success as well as a dedicated cult-following. In addition to his 2 Academy Awards, he has received many industry awards, including 2 BAFTA Awards, 4 Golden Globes and the Palme d’Or. He has also been nominated for an Emmy and 5 Grammys. In 2005, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. Filmmaker and historian Peter Bogdanovich has called him “the single most influential director of his generation.” In December 2015, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- My Best Friend’s Birthday (1987) – unfinished – also actor
- Past Midnight (1991) – directed by Jan Eliasberg – uncredited rewrites, associate producer
- Reservoir Dogs (1992)** – also actor
- Eddie Presley (1992) – directed by Jeff Burr – cameo
- True Romance (1993) – directed by Tony Scott – writer
- Killing Zoe (1993) – directed by Roger Avery – executive producer
- The Coriolis Conflict (1994) – directed by Louis Venosta – voice cameo
- Pulp Fiction (1994)** – also actor
- Sleep with Me (1994) – directed by Rory Kelly – cameo
- Somebody to Love (1994) – directed by Alexandre Rockwell – cameo
- Natural Born Killers (1994) – directed by Oliver Stone – story
- It’s Pat (1994) – directed by Adam Bernstein – uncredited rewrites
- Crimson Tide (1995) – directed by Tony Scott – uncredited rewrites
- Destiny Turns on the Radio (1995) – directed by Jack Baran – actor
- Desperado (1995) – directed by Robert Rodriguez – actor
- Four Rooms (1995) – directed with Allison Anders, Alexander Rockwell, & Robert Rodriguez – anthology – also actor
- Leonard Cohen: Dance Me to the End of Love (1995) – directed by Aaron A. Goffman – actor – short
- From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) – directed by Robert Rodriguez – writer, actor
- Girl 6 (1996) – directed by Spike Lee – cameo
- Curdled (1996) – directed by Reb Braddock – executive producer, uncredited cameo
- The Rock (1996) – directed by Michael Bay – uncredited rewrites
- Jackie Brown (1997)** – also uncredited voice
- God Said Ha! (1998) – directed by Julia Sweeney – executive producer
- From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) – directed by Scott Spiegel – executive producer – straight to video
- From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter (1999) – directed by P. J. Pesce – executive producer – straight to video
- Little Nicky (2000) – directed by Steven Brill – actor
- Hero (2002)* – directed by Zhang Yimou – executive producer
- Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)*
- Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)*
- My Name Is Modesty (2004) – directed by Scott Spiegel – executive producer
- The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz (2005) – directed by Kirk R. Thatcher – cameo as himself – TV movie
- Sin City (2005)* – directed by Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller – guest directed one scene
- Daltry Calhoun (2005) – directed by Katrina Holden Bronson – executive producer
- Hostel (2005) – directed by Eli Roth – executive producer
- Freedom’s Fury (2006) – directed by Colin Keith Gray & Megan Raney Aarons – documentary – executive producer
- Grindhouse (2007)* – double feature, directed and photographed Death Proof, actor in both films
- Sukiyaki Western Django (2007) – directed by Takashi Miike – actor
- Diary of the Dead (2007) – directed by George A. Romero – voice cameo
- Hostel: Part II (2007) – directed by Eli Roth – executive producer
- Hell Ride (2008) – directed by Larry Bishop – executive producer
- Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008) – directed by Mark Hartley – himself – documentary
- Inglourious Basterds (2009)*
- POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011) – directed by Morgan Spurlock – himself – documentary
- Django Unchained (2012)* – also actor
- She’s Funny That Way (2014) – directed by Peter Bogdanovich – cameo as himself
- The Hateful Eight (2015)* – also narrator
- What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (2018) – directed by Rob Garver – himself – documentary
- The Great Buster: A Celebration (2018) – directed by Peter Bogdanovich – himself – documentary
- Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood (2019)*
- QT8: The First Eight (2019) – and directed by Tara Wood – archive footage – documentary
- Jay Sebring….Cutting to the Truth (2020) – directed by Anthony DiMaria – himself – documentary
- Django & Django (2021) – directed by Luca Rea – himself – documentary
- Ennio (2021) – directed by Giuseppe Tornatore – himself documentary
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