Robert Zemeckis
Oscar winner · Director · Producer
75 years (May 14, 1951)Chicago, Illinois, USA
Robert Zemeckis is an American director born in Chicago, Illinois, celebrated for technically ambitious, emotionally accessible films that repeatedly pushed visual-effects filmmaking forward. Back to the Future, a time-travel comedy adventure, became one of the defining blockbusters of the 1980s, while Who Framed Roger Rabbit combined live action and animation with unprecedented technical sophistication. Forrest Gump, blending a sweeping historical narrative with groundbreaking digital effects inserting its protagonist into archival footage, won Zemeckis the Academy Award for Best Director, and Cast Away showed his equal command of stripped-down, largely dialogue-free storytelling. His later work in performance-capture animation, including The Polar Express and Beowulf, continued his lifelong fascination with technology's expanding storytelling possibilities. Zemeckis's consistent pairing of cutting-edge technical innovation with broadly appealing, sentimental storytelling has made him one of the most commercially successful directors in Hollywood history.
Robert Zemeckis
Oscar winner · Director · Producer
Robert Zemeckis is an American director born in Chicago, Illinois, celebrated for technically ambitious, emotionally accessible films that repeatedly pushed visual-effects filmmaking forward. Back to the Future, a time-travel comedy adventure, became one of the defining blockbusters of the 1980s, while Who Framed Roger Rabbit combined live action and animation with unprecedented technical sophistication. Forrest Gump, blending a sweeping historical narrative with groundbreaking digital effects inserting its protagonist into archival footage, won Zemeckis the Academy Award for Best Director, and Cast Away showed his equal command of stripped-down, largely dialogue-free storytelling. His later work in performance-capture animation, including The Polar Express and Beowulf, continued his lifelong fascination with technology's expanding storytelling possibilities. Zemeckis's consistent pairing of cutting-edge technical innovation with broadly appealing, sentimental storytelling has made him one of the most commercially successful directors in Hollywood history.
Movies: 30 titles
Director
Forrest Gump
1994
Director
Back to the Future
1985
Director
Contact
1997
Director
Back to the Future Part II
1989
Director
Cast Away
2000
Director
Flight
2012
Director
The Polar Express
2004
Director
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
1988
Director
A Christmas Carol
2009
Director
Back to the Future Part III
1990
Director
Roald Dahl's The Witches
2020
Director
Death Becomes Her
1992
Director
Pinocchio
2022
Director
Romancing the Stone
1984
Director
Beowulf
2007
Director
What Lies Beneath
2000
Director
The Walk
2015
Director
Allied
2016
Director
Here
2024
Director
Welcome to Marwen
2018
Director
Used Cars
1980
Director
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
1978
Director
Doc Brown Saves the World
2015
Director
Tales from the Crypt: The Robert Zemeckis Collection
1999
Director
A Field of Honor
1973
Director
The Lift
1972
Latest Trailers
Watch Trailer
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
Full Filmography
Here
Director
2024
Pinocchio
Director
2022
Roald Dahl's The Witches
Director
2020
WHAT / IF
Executive Producer · 10 episodes
2019–
Project Blue Book
Executive Producer · 12 episodes
2019–
Welcome to Marwen
Director
2018
Manifest
Executive Producer · 124 episodes
2018–
Back to the Future: The Hill Valley Chronicles
Director · 11 episodes
2018–
Allied
Director
2016
Photos
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Robert Zemeckis and where are they from?
Robert Zemeckis is 75 years old, born on May 14, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
What are the most famous roles of Robert Zemeckis?
Robert Zemeckis is best known for directing Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, Back to the Future Part II.
How many movies has Robert Zemeckis directed?
Over a 54-year career (since 1972), Robert Zemeckis has directed or written 30 films and worked on 8 TV shows.
What was Robert Zemeckis's first movie?
The career of Robert Zemeckis began with The Last Mrs. Parrish ().
What is Robert Zemeckis's most recent movie or series?
Robert Zemeckis's most recent release is Here, which premiered on October 30, 2024.
What TV shows has Robert Zemeckis created or directed?
On television, Robert Zemeckis has appeared in Manifest, Project Blue Book, Tales from the Crypt, Amazing Stories.
Robert Zemeckis
1951-05-14 · Chicago, Illinois, USA
Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker known for directing and producing a range of successful and influential movies. He often blends cutting-edge visual effects with storytelling. He has received several accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for five British Academy Film Awards and a Daytime Emmy Award.
Zemeckis started his career directing the comedy films I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), Used Cars (1980), and Romancing the Stone (1984). He gained prominence directing the science-fiction comedy Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990), the fantasy comedy Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and the comedy-drama Forrest Gump (1994), the latter of which won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director.
He has also directed the satirical black comedy Death Becomes Her (1992), the science fiction film Contact (1997), and the drama films Cast Away (2000), Flight (2012), The Walk (2015), and Allied (2016). His exploration of motion capture techniques can be seen in the animated films The Polar Express (2004) and A Christmas Carol (2009), as well as the action fantasy drama Beowulf (2007) and the drama Welcome to Marwen (2018). He has collaborated with film composer Alan Silvestri since 1984 and directed Tom Hanks in five films.Robert Zemeckis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.