Actors Who Became Directors Later in Their Careers

Some actors spend years learning film from the front of the camera before they finally move behind it.

They watch directors work. They learn how scenes are built. They understand actors’ fears, timing, rhythm, and pressure. Then, after years of performing, some decide they want to shape the whole story themselves.

Here are actors who became directors later in their careers.

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood was already a major screen figure before he directed his first film.

After becoming famous through Rawhide, Sergio Leone’s Westerns, and tough-guy roles like Dirty Harry, Eastwood made his directorial debut with Play Misty for Me in 1971. The psychological thriller showed that he was not only interested in being the man with the gun. He wanted control over tone, pacing, suspense, and performance.

Eastwood later became one of Hollywood’s most respected actor-directors, making films such as Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Gran Torino, and American Sniper.

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck’s directing career helped change the public conversation around him.

After becoming famous as an actor and Oscar-winning co-writer of Good Will Hunting, Affleck moved behind the camera with Gone Baby Gone in 2007. The crime drama was his feature directorial debut and earned strong reviews, especially for its gritty Boston setting and performances.

He followed it with The Town and then Argo, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Greta Gerwig

Greta Gerwig first became known as an actress in independent films before becoming one of the most important directors of her generation.

She acted in films such as Frances Ha, Mistress America, Greenberg, and Damsels in Distress. Then she made her solo directing debut with Lady Bird in 2017, a coming-of-age film set in Sacramento. The film earned major critical praise and established Gerwig as a filmmaker with a sharp emotional voice.

She later directed Little Women and Barbie, proving that she could move from intimate personal stories to major studio filmmaking without losing her point of view.

Jordan Peele

Jordan Peele was first known as a comedian and performer before he became one of modern horror’s most important directors.

He built his public career through sketch comedy, especially Key & Peele. Then he made his directing debut with Get Out in 2017. The film mixed horror, satire, social commentary, and psychological tension in a way that immediately changed his career.

Peele later won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Get Out, becoming the first Black writer to win that category.

Regina King

Regina King had already built a long acting career before making her feature directing breakthrough.

She was known for 227, Jerry Maguire, Ray, Southland, American Crime, Watchmen, and many other roles before directing One Night in Miami…. The 2020 film marked King’s feature directorial debut and imagined a meeting between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke.

King’s acting background helped the film because One Night in Miami… depends heavily on performance, conversation, tension, and emotional control.

Olivia Wilde

Olivia Wilde spent years as an actress before stepping behind the camera.

She appeared in House, Tron: Legacy, Drinking Buddies, Rush, and other projects before making her feature directing debut with Booksmart in 2019. The teen comedy earned strong reviews and won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.

Booksmart worked because Wilde understood performance energy. The film was fast, emotional, funny, and deeply focused on friendship.

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie was already one of the most famous actresses in the world before she became a director.

After building a career through Girl, Interrupted, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Changeling, and other films, Jolie directed In the Land of Blood and Honey. The 2011 war drama was her first commercial release as a director and told a love story set during the Bosnian War.

Her later directing work included Unbroken, By the Sea, and First They Killed My Father.

Sofia Coppola

Sofia Coppola acted before she became known as a director, most famously appearing in The Godfather Part III.

Her real artistic identity changed when she moved behind the camera. Coppola made her feature directing debut with The Virgin Suicides, adapted from Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel. The film established her dreamy, restrained, emotionally distant style.

She later directed Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, Somewhere, The Bling Ring, and Priscilla.

Robert Redford

Robert Redford was already one of Hollywood’s most famous actors before becoming a director.

He had starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, All the President’s Men, and many other films before directing Ordinary People in 1980. That debut won Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards, immediately proving that Redford was more than a movie star.

His later directing work included A River Runs Through It, Quiz Show, and The Horse Whisperer.

Ron Howard

Ron Howard grew up on screen before becoming a major director.

He was a child actor on The Andy Griffith Show and later became widely known as Richie Cunningham on Happy Days. Then he moved into directing and built one of the most successful second careers in Hollywood.

Howard directed films including Splash, Cocoon, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon, and Rush. His directing style often feels clean, accessible, emotional, and built for broad audiences.

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster was already an acclaimed actress before directing.

She had been acting since childhood and became a major performer through Taxi Driver, The Accused, and The Silence of the Lambs. She later moved behind the camera with films such as Little Man Tate, Home for the Holidays, The Beaver, and Money Monster.

Foster’s directing often focuses on complicated families, emotional pressure, and characters under stress.

Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner moved into directing at the height of his acting fame.

He starred in The Untouchables, Bull Durham, and Field of Dreams before directing Dances with Wolves. That film became a huge success and won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director.

Costner later directed The Postman, Open Range, and the large-scale Western project Horizon: An American Saga.

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand was already a superstar singer and actress before she directed films.

She became famous through music, Broadway, Funny Girl, The Way We Were, and A Star Is Born. Then she directed Yentl, becoming one of the few women of her era to direct, produce, co-write, and star in a major studio film.

She later directed The Prince of Tides and The Mirror Has Two Faces.

Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington became one of the most respected actors of his generation before directing.

After major performances in Glory, Malcolm X, Philadelphia, Training Day, and many other films, Washington moved behind the camera with Antwone Fisher. He later directed The Great Debaters, Fences, and A Journal for Jordan.

His directing often focuses on dignity, discipline, family, education, and Black American life.

Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson became famous as an action star before building a directing career.

He rose through Mad Max and Lethal Weapon, then directed The Man Without a Face. His bigger directing breakthrough came with Braveheart, which won Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards.

Gibson later directed The Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto, and Hacksaw Ridge.

Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper was already a major actor before directing his first feature.

He became known through The Hangover, Silver Linings Playbook, American Sniper, and other roles before directing A Star Is Born. The film was also a major acting and musical showcase for both Cooper and Lady Gaga.

Cooper later directed Maestro, a much more ambitious biographical drama about Leonard Bernstein.

George Clooney

George Clooney became a television and movie star before directing.

After ER made him famous and films turned him into a leading man, Clooney directed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. He later directed Good Night, and Good Luck, The Ides of March, The Monuments Men, and other projects.

Clooney’s directing often reflects his interest in politics, journalism, media, power, and old Hollywood style.

Sarah Polley

Sarah Polley was known first as an actress before becoming a highly respected filmmaker.

She acted in projects such as The Sweet Hereafter, Go, and Dawn of the Dead, then moved into directing with Away from Her. She later directed Take This Waltz, the documentary Stories We Tell, and Women Talking.

Polley’s films are intimate, thoughtful, and emotionally precise. They often deal with memory, marriage, trauma, truth, and the stories people tell to survive.

Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth Branagh built his name as an actor, especially through Shakespeare, before becoming a major director.

He directed and starred in Henry V, then continued directing films such as Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Thor, Cinderella, Belfast, and the Hercule Poirot films.

Branagh’s career is unusual because acting and directing were linked almost from the beginning of his film fame.

Penny Marshall

Penny Marshall became famous as an actress before becoming a major director.

She was loved as Laverne DeFazio on Laverne & Shirley, then moved behind the camera and directed Big, Awakenings, A League of Their Own, and other films.

Her directing career was historically important. Big became the first film directed by a woman to gross more than $100 million at the U.S. box office.