Age: 62
male
Guillermo del Toro Gómez (Spanish: [ɡiˈʝeɾmo ðelˈtoɾo]; born 9 October 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales, gothicism, and horror, often blending the genres to infuse visual or poetic beauty into the grotesque. He has had a lifelong fascination with monsters, which he considers symbols of great power. He is known for pioneering dark fantasy in the film industry and using insectile and religious imagery, his themes of Catholicism, and celebrating imperfection, underworld motifs, practical special effects, and dominant amber lighting. Throughout his career, del Toro has shifted between Spanish-language films—such as Cronos (1993), The Devil's Backbone (2001), and Pan's Labyrinth (2006)—and English-language films, including Mimic (1997), Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and its sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army(2008), Pacific Rim (2013), Crimson Peak (2015), The Shape of Water (2017), Nightmare Alley (2021), and Pinocchio (2022). As a producer or writer, he worked on the films The Orphanage (2007), Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010), The Hobbit film series (2012–2014), Mama (2013), The Book of Life (2014), Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019), and The Witches (2020). In 2022, he created the Netflix anthology horror series Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, featuring a collection of classical horror stories. With Chuck Hogan, he co-authored The Strain trilogy of novels (2009–2011), which was later adapted into a comic book series (2011–15) and a live-action television series (2014–17). With DreamWorks Animation and Netflix, he created the animated franchise Tales of Arcadia, which includes the series Trollhunters (2016–18), 3Below (2018–19), and Wizards (2020) and the sequel film Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021). Del Toro is close friends with fellow Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, collectively known as "The Three Amigos of Mexican Cinema". He has received several awards, including three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award, and a Golden Lion. He was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018, and he received a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019.
Richard Mayhew has spent three years in London living a safe, predictable life defined by a dull job and a controlling fiancée, Jessica. But one rainy night, everything changes when he encounters Door, a wounded young woman who emerges from a mysterious door in a wall while being hunted by two terrifying assassins, Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar. Richard chooses to help her rather than attend his important dinner, costing him his engagement—and, by morning, his entire identity. No one remembers him, his home and job are gone, and only the forgotten inhabitants of a hidden world beneath London can see him. Determined to find Door and reclaim his life, Richard descends into London Below, a vast, dangerous realm of forgotten people, ancient courts, magical markets, monsters, and impossible places. Reunited with Door and joined by the enigmatic Marquis de Carabas and legendary warrior Hunter, Richard follows clues left by Door’s murdered family toward the mysterious angel Islington, who promises answers about their deaths. Their journey takes them through the Floating Market, Earl’s Court, the British Museum, the Black Friars’ deadly trials, and the labyrinthine depths beneath London, where Richard must confront the Beast of London and discover the courage he never knew he possessed. But as Door uncovers the truth, she learns that Islington orchestrated her family’s murder and manipulated her into retrieving a magical key so it can open a gateway to Heaven and seize power over the angels who banished it. With Richard captured and Door seemingly trapped, she outwits Islington by using a counterfeit key, sending the angel, Croup, and Vandemar into an unknown realm. Door then restores Richard’s passage to London Above, but he soon realizes that his old life no longer feels like home. When he finally despairs of ever returning to London Below, the resurrected Marquis appears with one final door—and Richard steps willingly into the world that changed him forever.
