10 Greatest Actors Turned Directors

All actors, secretly or otherwise, want to direct. In the cutthroat movie business, anything you can do to get ahead is a boon, and once you’re calling the shots, you’re set up for life with endless movie roles and no one to tell you to do things differently. Alternatively you can remain behind the camera and exert a little power over your former peers - a tempting proposition.

It’s not always as easy as many performers imagine, though. Many an actor has made the jump only to find themselves accused of making vanity projects, lacking the critical eye required to occupy the hot seat.

When it goes well, though, you can find yourself with a whole new career, which sometimes exceeds your achievements as a performer. The critics love an actor-turned-director, and the rewards are great.

We’ll be looking here solely at those who worked primarily as actors before making the transition, so the likes of Woody Allen or Orson Welles, whose vision and or ego meant that they wore both hats from the off, won’t be included. These are the rare actors who decided they had something more to offer and could actually back it up.

She has thus far directed only one feature film, but what a film it is. Olivia Wilde’s career up to 2019 had been solid if perhaps unspectacular - after bursting onto the scene with a recurring role in The O.C, she had found a few decent film roles as well as some less interesting ones, and a lead part in HBO drama Vinyl which, despite input from Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger, promptly bombed.

Then, she directed Booksmart. One of the sharpest, funniest, and generally most delightful films in recent memory, the comedy quickly changed Wilde’s status, and most likely her career going forward.

An unflinching look at friendship, young adulthood, self confidence and sexuality, Booksmart was starmaking not just for its lead actors Kaitlyn Denver and Beanie Feldstein but for its director too. A sleeper hit and a critical smash, it left audiences and studios alike eager for Wilde’s next effort.

She has also recently been involved in documentaries, producing and directing shorts with heavy subjects like war and natural disasters. While they may not have the mass appeal of a coming of age comedy, she is evidently a director to watch in future.