Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970), also known by his initials PTA, is an American filmmaker. Often described as one of the preeminent filmmakers of his generation, he is the recipient of three Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, four BAFTAs, three Critics Choice Awards, and nominations for a Grammy. He is the only person to have won the Academy Award for Best Director, as well as the Best Director Awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to those accolades, he won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Many of Anderson's films are psychological dramas characterized by depictions of desperate characters and explorations of dysfunctional families, alienation, loneliness, and redemption, alongside a bold visual style that uses constantly moving cameras and long takes. After his directorial debut, Hard Eight (1996), Anderson had critical and commercial success with Boogie Nights (1997), and received further accolades with Magnolia (1999) and Punch-Drunk Love (2002).
There Will Be Blood (2007), Anderson's fifth film, is regarded as one of the greatest films of the 21st century. It was followed by The Master (2012) and Inherent Vice (2014), an adaptation of the 2009 novel by Thomas Pynchon. Anderson's next three films, Phantom Thread (2017), Licorice Pizza (2021) and One Battle After Another (2025) were all nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, while the last earned him wins for both and Best Adapted Screenplay and became his highest-grossing film.
Anderson is noted for his collaborations with the cinematographer Robert Elswit, the costume designer Mark Bridges, the composers Jon Brion and Jonny Greenwood, and actors including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Daniel Day-Lewis, John C. Reilly, and Joaquin Phoenix. He has directed music videos for artists including Fiona Apple, Haim, Aimee Mann, Joanna Newsom, Michael Penn, Radiohead, and the Smile. He also directed a 2015 documentary about Greenwood's album Junun, and the short music film Anima (2019) for the Radiohead singer Thom Yorke.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Thomas Anderson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
9
9
6
9
9
7
A stranger mentors a young Reno gambler who weds a hooker and befriends a vulgar casino regular....
More info
Set in 1977, back when sex was safe, pleasure was a business and business was booming, idealistic po...
More info9
9
8
9
9
9
Friends, enemies, acquaintances, and family of porn star John Holmes recall their experiences with h...
More info0
0
0
A very in-depth documentary that follows the very over-worked director Paul Thomas Anderson through ...
More info0
0
1
Corky Romano is a bumbling, simpleton, veterinarian and the youngest, outcast son of an aging gangst...
More info0
0
2
John Anderton is a top 'Precrime' cop in the late-21st century, when technology can predict crimes b...
More info
A socially awkward and volatile small business owner meets the love of his life after being threaten...
More info0
0
3
Paul Thomas Anderson spoofs the famous 1980s Mattress Man commercial outtake using Dean Trumbell, th...
More info0
0
4
0
0
5
0
0
6
0
0
7
Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using ...
More info0
0
8
0
0
9
0
1
0
0
1
1
0
1
2
Freddie, a volatile, heavy-drinking veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, finds s...
More info0
1
3
0
1
4
In Los Angeles at the turn of the 1970s, drug-fueled detective Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates th...
More info0
1
5
0
1
6
0
1
7
In 1950s London, a renowned dressmaker's meticulous lifestyle begins drastically changing as his rel...
More info0
1
8
Adam Sandler takes his comical musical musings back out on the road, from comedy clubs to concert ha...
More info0
1
9
0
2
0
0
2
1
The story of Gary Valentine and Alana Kane growing up, running around and going through the treacher...
More info0
2
2
0
2
3
0
2
4
0
2
5
Washed-up revolutionary Bob exists in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirit...
More infoRecent movies
| # | Name | Character | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | One Battle After Another (2025) | Director / Writer | 6.7 | |
| 2 | Napoleon (2023) | Director / Writer | 6.5 | |
| 3 | "Sr." (2022) | Self (archive footage) | 8 | |
| 4 | Licorice Pizza (2021) | Director / Writer | 7.1 | |
| 5 | Anima (2019) | Director / Writer | 6.8 | |
| 6 | Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh (2018) | Director / Writer | 5.7 | |
| 7 | Phantom Thread (2017) | Director / Writer | 7.3 | |
| 8 | Junun (2015) | Director / Writer | 9 | |
| 9 | Inherent Vice (2014) Oscars 2015 | Director / Writer | 6.6 | |
| 10 | The Master (2012) Oscars 2013 | Director / Writer | 6.9 | |
| 11 | There Will Be Blood (2007) Oscars 2008 | Director / Writer | 7.9 | |
| 12 | Mattress Man Commercial (2003) | Director / Writer | 8 | |
| 13 | Couch (2003) | Director / Writer | 5 | |
| 14 | Minority Report (2002) Oscars 2003 | Bus Passenger (uncredited) | 7.6 | |
| 15 | Punch-Drunk Love (2002) | Director / Writer | 6.7 | |
| 16 | Corky Romano (2001) | Director / Writer | 7.2 | |
| 17 | That Moment: Magnolia Diary (2000) | Self | - | - |
| 18 | Magnolia (1999) Oscars 2000 | Director / Writer | 7.6 | |
| 19 | Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes (1999) | Self | - | - |
| 20 | Hard Eight (1997) | Director / Writer | 6.6 | |
| 21 | Boogie Nights (1997) Oscars 1998 | Director / Writer | 7.5 | |
| 22 | The Dirk Diggler Story (1988) | Director / Writer | - | - |

