List of action film directors

Action film directors guide the filming and creative elements in action movies, a film genre where action sequences, such as fights, shootouts, stunts, car chases or explosions either take precedence, or, in finer examples of the genre, are used as a form of exposition and character development. Action movie directors may also blend other genres into their films such as romance, science fiction, fantasy, comedy, drama, horror, etc... This genre is closely linked with those of thriller and adventure films.

Notable directors

 * J. J. Abrams
 * Jon Amiel
 * Siddharth Anand
 * Paul W. S. Anderson
 * Michael Apted
 * Newt Arnold
 * David Ayer
 * John Badham
 * Jose Balagtas
 * Andrzej Bartkowiak
 * Craig R. Baxley
 * Michael Bay
 * Henry Bean
 * Peter Berg
 * Luc Besson
 * Kathryn Bigelow
 * Neill Blomkamp
 * Joon-ho Bong
 * Marco Brambilla
 * Tim Burton
 * James Cameron
 * Martin Campbell
 * Joe Carnahan
 * John Carpenter
 * D. J. Caruso
 * Steve Carver
 * Enzo G. Castellari
 * Benny Chan
 * Gordon Chan
 * Siu-tung Ching
 * Stephen Chow
 * Robert Clouse
 * Rob Cohen
 * Sergio Corbucci
 * George Pan Cosmatos
 * Andrew Davis
 * Jan de Bont
 * Brian De Palma
 * Guillermo del Toro
 * Jonathan Demme
 * Ernest Dickerson
 * Mark DiSalle
 * H. Tjut Djalil
 * Roger Donaldson
 * Richard Donner
 * Christian Duguay
 * Breck Eisner
 * Roland Emmerich
 * Gareth Evans
 * Jon Favreau
 * David Fincher
 * Sam Firstenberg
 * Isaac Florentine
 * John Flynn
 * John Ford
 * John Frankenheimer
 * William Friedkin
 * Kinji Fukasaku
 * Cary Joji Fukunaga
 * Stephen Fung
 * Antoine Fuqua
 * Christophe Gans
 * Lewis Gilbert
 * John Glen
 * James Glickenhaus
 * Menahem Golan
 * Allan A. Goldstein
 * David S. Goyer
 * F. Gary Gray
 * Paul Greengrass
 * Guy Hamilton
 * Renny Harlin
 * Jonathan Hensleigh
 * Anthony Hickox
 * Walter Hill
 * Stephen Hopkins
 * Patrick Hughes
 * Peter R. Hunt
 * Brian G. Hutton
 * John Hyams
 * Peter Hyams
 * John Irvin
 * Peter Jackson
 * Hugh Johnson
 * Joe Johnston
 * Michael Caton-Jones
 * Irvin Kershner
 * Jee-woon Kim
 * Andrei Konchalovsky
 * Ted Kotcheff
 * Jan Kounen
 * Akira Kurosawa
 * Robert Kurtzman
 * Ringo Lam
 * Jess Lapid, Jr.
 * Lito Lapid
 * Andrew Lau
 * Mimi Leder
 * Ang Lee
 * Daniel Lee
 * Danny Lee
 * David Leitch
 * Sergio Leone
 * Mark L. Lester
 * Richard Lester
 * Louis Leterrier
 * Sheldon Lettich
 * Jonathan Liebesman
 * Doug Liman
 * Justin Lin
 * Dwight H. Little
 * Wei Lo
 * William Lustig
 * Jennifer Lynch
 * Peter MacDonald
 * Alan Mak
 * Bruce Malmuth
 * Michael Mann
 * James Mangold
 * Antonio Margheriti
 * Baldo Marro
 * Nico Mastorakis
 * Bruno Mattei
 * Olivier Megaton
 * Sam Mendes
 * McG
 * Andrew V. McLaglen
 * John McTiernan
 * Christopher McQuarrie
 * Takashi Miike
 * Willie Milan
 * John Milius
 * George Miller
 * Steve Miner
 * Cesar Montano
 * John Moore
 * Pierre Morel
 * Russell Mulcahy
 * Geoff Murphy
 * Chris Nahon
 * Hal Needham
 * Neveldine/Taylor
 * Ilya Naishuller
 * Linh Nga
 * Christopher Nolan
 * Aaron Norris
 * Keishi Ōtomo
 * Sonny Parsons
 * Sam Peckinpah
 * Wolfgang Petersen
 * Prachya Pinkaew
 * Fernando Poe Jr.
 * Ted Post
 * Alex Proyas
 * Albert Pyun
 * Sam Raimi
 * Brett Ratner
 * Spiro Razatoz
 * Matt Reeves
 * Nicolas Winding Refn
 * Kevin Reynolds
 * Ronnie Ricketts
 * Guy Ritchie
 * Panna Rittikrai
 * Eddie Rodriguez
 * Robert Rodriguez
 * Philip J. Roth
 * Chuck Russell
 * Russo brothers
 * Mikael Salomon
 * Cirio H. Santiago
 * Barbet Schroeder
 * Ridley Scott
 * Tony Scott
 * Dominic Sena
 * Jack Sholder
 * Don Siegel
 * Bryan Singer
 * John Singleton
 * Brian Trenchard-Smith
 * Zack Snyder
 * Stephen Sommers
 * Steven Spielberg
 * Roger Spottiswoode
 * Chad Stahelski
 * John Stockwell
 * Oliver Stone
 * John Sturges
 * Lee Tamahori
 * Billy Tang
 * Quentin Tarantino
 * J. Lee Thompson
 * Stanley Tong
 * Hark Tsui
 * Josh Trank
 * Pete Travis
 * Colin Trevorrow
 * Dante Varona
 * Matthew Vaughn
 * Gore Verbinski
 * Paul Verhoeven
 * Roi Vinzon
 * The Wachowskis
 * James Wan
 * Jon Watts
 * Marc Webb
 * Peter Weir
 * Simon West
 * Joss Whedon
 * Kurt Wimmer
 * Michael Winner
 * Tommy Wirkola
 * Len Wiseman
 * Kirk Wong
 * John Woo
 * Peter Yates
 * Sang-ho Yeon
 * Wilson Yip
 * Terence Young
 * Ronny Yu
 * Corey Yuen
 * Woo-ping Yuen
 * Yimou Zhang
 * Joseph Zito
 * Edward Zwick

Action stars who have directed their own action movies

 * Jackie Chan = The Fearless Hyena (1979), The Young Master (1980), Dragon Lord (1982), Project A (1983), Police Story (1985), Armour of God (1986), Project A Part II (1987), Police Story 2 (1988), Miracles (1989), Armour of God II: Operation Condor (1991), etc...
 * Clint Eastwood = High Plains Drifter (1973), The Eiger Sanction (1975), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), The Gauntlet (1977), Firefox (1982), Sudden Impact (1983), Pale Rider (1985), The Rookie (1990)
 * Mel Gibson = Braveheart (1995)
 * Sammo Hung = Enter the Fat Dragon (1978), Knockabout (1979), Encounters of the Spooky Kind (1980), The Prodigal Son (1981), Wheels on Meals (1984), Millionaire's Express (1986), Eastern Condors (1987), Dragons Forever (1988), Pedicab Driver (1989), etc...
 * Bruce Lee = Way of the Dragon (1972)
 * Jet Li = Born to Defence (1986)
 * Dolph Lundgren = The Defender (2004), The Mechanik (2005), Missionary Man (2007), Diamond Dogs (2007), Command Performance (2009), Icarus (2010)
 * Steven Seagal = On Deadly Ground (1994)
 * Sylvester Stallone = Rambo (2008), The Expendables (2010)
 * Jean-Claude Van Damme = The Quest (1996), Full Love (TBA)
 * Donnie Yen = Legend of the Wolf (1997), Ballistic Kiss (1998), Shanghai Affairs (1998)
 * Biao Yuen = Peacock King (1989), A Kid from Tibet (1992)