Ridley Scott

Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English filmmaker. Following his commercial breakthrough in 1979 with the science fiction horror film Alien, further works include the neo-noir dystopian film Blade Runner, the road adventure film Thelma & Louise, the historical drama Gladiator (which won the Academy Award for Best Picture) and the science fiction film The Martian. Beginning his career in advertising where he honed his filmmaking skills by making inventive mini-films for television commercials, Scott's work is known for its atmospheric, highly concentrated visual style. Though his films range widely in setting and period, they frequently showcase memorable imagery of urban environments, whether 2nd-century Rome (Gladiator), 12th-century Jerusalem (Kingdom of Heaven), Medieval England (Robin Hood), contemporary Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down), the future cityscapes of Blade Runner, or the distant planets in Alien, Prometheus, The Martian and Alien: Covenant. Several of his films are also known for their strong female characters.Scott has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Directing (for Thelma & Louise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down). In 1995, both Ridley and his brother Tony received a BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema. In 2003, Scott was knighted for his "services to the British film industry". In a 2004 BBC poll, Scott was named the tenth most influential person in British culture. In 2015, he received an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art in London, and in 2018 received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement.