The 20 best actors-turned-directors so far this century

Audiences are more familiar with Jonah Hill’s chops as an actor than a director, but his two helming efforts thus far are absolutely worth a watch. You may have missed 2018’s R-rated dramedy , Hill’s take on growing up in 1990s L.A. with a group of skater kids. He cast the film with local skaters rather than training actors to skate, shot it on Super 16mm, and paired it to a note-perfect soundtrack. Then in 2022, Hill’s documentary explored his mental health journey, sitting down with his psychiatrist, the world-renowned Phil Stutz, to explore his unique therapeutic style. Stutz sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s been a minute since we’ve seen this triple threat actress-producer-director go behind the camera—her most recent directorial effort was 2017’s critically lauded , the true story of a girl living through the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime. It’s her strongest work yet in a spotty directing career that also includes , , and . Regardless, Jolie deserves kudos for her refusal to shy away from difficult subjects and social injustice. about starring in Jolie’s upcoming Without Blood, “Angelina is the best director I’ve ever worked with.”

When star Michael B. Jordan took the reins on , he called up other actors-turned-directors like Bradley Cooper, Denzel Washington, and Jon Favreau for advice on how to multitask and when to say “action” and “cut.” The wildly successful result? A directing debut that hit $100 million on its opening weekend, and made people sit up and take notice. Creed III is an entertaining, visually thrilling sports flick that’s less about boxing than it is about the drama behind the boxing. Jordan has said he’s now caught the directing bug, and we’re here for it.

For years, award-winning multi-hyphenate Regina King has been respected in the industry as a TV director. In 2020, she finally transferred her skills to film with Inspired by a true anecdote, the film sees Black icons Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gather at a Florida motel to watch (and celebrate) Clay’s 1964 heavyweight championship victory over Sonny Liston. It would have been easy to deify these cultural superstars, but King deftly allows each to have their standout moment without any of the melodrama. And since the film is basically 110 minutes of watching four men in a hotel room, it’s something to be said that you remain riveted in your seat the entire time.

Since NBC’s debuted in 2004, John Krasinski has been entertaining us in front of the camera, and behind the camera, too, honing his directing chops on a few episodes. But in 2018 he blew everyone away with , a horror thriller whose concept involved everyone … not speaking. Sounds like a terrible idea on paper, but Krasinski was able to ratchet the tension up with inventive visuals and convincing emotion to create one of that year’s most unexpected monster hits. was equally nerve-racking, so it should be interesting to see how the third movie—not directed by Krasinski — compares in 2024.

Eva Longoria, known for TV’s , had been directing television for a decade before tackling a feature film, 2023’s highly publicized , about the Frito-Lay employee supposedly responsible for the invention of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Is the story true? Not really. Does it matter? Not really. Longoria delivers an inspiring, endearing snack of a film that hits just the right notes of suspense and spicy sweetness to make you want to give the entire cast a warm hug. And that’s pretty impressive when you’ve just been fed a lie.

Given Jordan Peele’s background on and as one half of Key & Peele, one might’ve thought his directing debut, 2017’s , would have landed in horror-comedy territory. Instead, he turned in a seriously scary movie that subtly spliced in social commentary—and became the film everyone talked about that year. After winning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Get Out, he followed it up with successful directing turns for  (2019) and (2022). One of the most provocative directors working today, we’re waiting with bated breath for his fourth movie, scheduled to be released in 2024.

As an actress, you may remember Sarah Polley as part of the indie crowd that came up in the ’90s with movies like and . But by the end of the decade, she dipped into directing with a few short films. Then in 2008, Polley hit her stride with the masterful , which she wrote and directed, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Since then she’s focused on her directing career—and showed she’s the real thing by winning the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for 2022’s , a film she also directed.

For her feature debut, Olivia Wilde cast an ensemble of young people, including non-pro actors, in , a 2019 coming-of-age comedy about two overachieving teens dead-set on having a night of fun—think with girls. Critics called the R-rated comedy “exhilarating” and it earned a 96% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewers were less kind to her follow-up effort in 2022, but we still have high hopes for Wilde’s directing future.

We’ve been watching Denzel Washington’s disciplined, cerebral brand of film acting since the ’80s, which is why you might be surprised to learn he only directed his first film in 2002 (the solidly crafted ). five years later proved he was equally at home behind the camera as in front of it, and 2016’s was a worthy film version of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Though he has no directing gig lined up in the near future, we’ll happily settle for his starring role in the third movie coming in September.