Guillermo del Toro Gómez (Spanish:[ɡiˈʝeɾmoðelˈtoɾo]; born 9 October 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection tofairy tales,gothicism andhorror often blending the genres, with an effort to infuse visual or poetic beauty in the grotesque.[1] He has had a lifelong fascination withmonsters, which he considers symbols of great power.[2] He is known for pioneeringdark fantasy in the film industry and for his use of insectile and religious imagery, his themes ofCatholicism, celebrating imperfection, underworld motifs,practical special effects, and dominant amber lighting.[3][4][5]
Del Toro promoting his first feature film,Cronos, which was released in 1993
Guillermo del Toro Gómez[9] was born in the city ofGuadalajara,Jalisco, on 9 October 1964, the son of Guadalupe Gómez Camberos and automotive entrepreneur Federico del Toro Torres.[10] Del Toro is ofSpanish,Irish, andGerman descent.[11] Raised in a strictCatholic household,[12] he attended theUniversity of Guadalajara's Centro de Investigación y Estudios Cinematográficos (Film Studies Center).[13]
In 1969 his father won a lottery, enabling del Toro to be raised among books and exotic animals; he described their home as “an enchanted castle".[14]
When del Toro was about eight years old, he began experimenting with his father'sSuper 8 camera, making short films withPlanet of the Apes toys and other objects. One short film focused on a "serial killer potato" with ambitions of world domination; it murdered del Toro's mother and brothers before stepping outside and being crushed by a car.[15] Del Toro made about 10 short films before his first feature, including one titledMatilde, but only the last two,Doña Lupe andGeometria, have been made available.[16] He wrote four episodes and directed five episodes of thecult seriesLa Hora Marcada, along with other Mexican filmmakers such asEmmanuel Lubezki andAlfonso Cuarón.[17]
His first movie was supposed to be a stop-motion sci-fi feature calledOmnivore, about a lizard-man born in a savage land where everything tries to eat everything else.[18] He and his team built sets and about 100 puppets over a three-year period prior to filming. Vandals burglarized the studio one night and destroyed the puppets and sets, which put an end to his project as del Toro decided to switch to a live-action film,Cronos.[19][20]
Del Toro studiedspecial effects and make-up with special-effects artistDick Smith.[21] He spent 10 years as a special-effects make-up designer and formed his own company, Necropia. He also co-founded theGuadalajara International Film Festival. Later in his directing career, he was a co-founder of the production company, the "Tequila Gang" together with filmmakerAlfonso Cuarón, screenwriterLaura Esquivel, producer Berta Navarro and sales agent Rosa Bosch.[22]
In 1997, at the age of 33, Guillermo was given a $30 million budget fromMiramax Films (then owned byDisney) to shoot another film,Mimic. He was ultimately unhappy with the way Miramax treated him during production, which led to his friendJames Cameron almost coming to blows with Miramax co-founder and ownerHarvey Weinstein during the70th Academy Awards.[23]
I cannot pontificate about it, but by the time I'm done, I will have done one movie, and it's all the movies I want.
People say, you know, "I like your Spanish movies more than I like your English-language movies because they are not as personal," and I go "Fuck, you're wrong!"Hellboy is as personal to me asPan's Labyrinth. They're tonally different, and yes, of course you can like one more than the other—the other one may seem banal or whatever it is that you don't like. But it really is part of the same movie. You make one movie.Hitchcock did one movie, all his life.
Del Toro views the horror genre as inherently political, explaining, "Much like fairy tales, there are two facets of horror. One is pro-institution, which is the most reprehensible type of fairy tale: Don't wander into the woods, and always obey your parents. The other type of fairy tale is completely anarchic and antiestablishment."[25]
He is close friends with two other prominent and critically praised Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuarón andAlejandro González Iñárritu.[26] The three often influence each other's directorial decisions, and have been interviewed together byCharlie Rose. Cuarón was one of the producers ofPan's Labyrinth, while Iñárritu assisted in editing the film. The three filmmakers, referred to as the "Three Amigos" founded the production companyCha Cha Cha Films, whose first release was 2008'sRudo y Cursi.[27][28]
On 2 June 2009, del Toro's first novel,The Strain, was released. It is the first part of an apocalyptic vampire trilogy co-authored by del Toro andChuck Hogan. The second volume,The Fall, was released on 21 September 2010. The final installment,The Night Eternal, followed in October 2011. Del Toro cites writings ofAntoine Augustin Calmet,Montague Summers and Bernhardt J. Hurwood among his favourites in the non-literary form about vampires.[33] On 9 December 2010, del Toro launchedMirada Studios with his long-time cinematographerGuillermo Navarro, director Mathew Cullen and executive producer Javier Jimenez. Mirada was formed in Los Angeles, California to be a collaborative space where they and other filmmakers can work with Mirada's artists to create and produce projects that span digital production and content for film, television, advertising, interactive and other media. Mirada launched as a sister company to production companyMotion Theory.[34]
Del Toro directedPacific Rim, a science fiction film based on a screenplay by del Toro andTravis Beacham. In the film,giant monsters rise from the Pacific Ocean and attack major cities, leading humans to retaliate with giganticmecha suits calledJaegers. Del Toro commented, "This is my most un-modest film, this has everything. The scale is enormous and I'm just a big kid having fun."[35] The film was released on 12 July 2013 and grossed $411 million at the box office.
Del Toro directed "Night Zero", the pilot episode ofThe Strain, a vampire horror television series based on thenovel trilogy of the same name by del Toro andChuck Hogan.FX had commissioned the pilot episode, which del Toro scripted with Hogan and was filmed in Toronto in September 2013.[36][37] FX ordered a thirteen-episode first season for the series on 19 November 2013, and series premiered on 13 July 2014.[38]
AfterThe Strain's pilot episode, del Toro directedCrimson Peak, a gothic horror film he co-wrote withMatthew Robbins and Lucinda Cox. Del Toro has described the film as "a very set-oriented, classical but at the same time modern take on the ghost story", citingThe Omen,The Exorcist andThe Shining as influences. Del Toro also stated, "I think people are getting used to horror subjects done asfound footage orB-value budgets. I wanted this to feel like a throwback."Jessica Chastain,Tom Hiddleston,Mia Wasikowska, andCharlie Hunnam starred in the film.[39][40] Production began February 2014 in Toronto, with an April 2015 release date initially planned. The studio later pushed the date back to October 2015, to coincide with the Halloween season.[41] He was selected to be on the jury for the main competition section of the2015 Cannes Film Festival.[42][43]
Del Toro collaborated with Japanese video game designerHideo Kojima to produceP.T., a video game intended to be a "playable trailer" for the ninthSilent Hill game, which was cancelled.[51] The demo was also removed from thePlayStation Network amidst major controversies. At theD23 Expo in 2009, his Double Dare You production company and Disney announced a production deal for a line of darker animated films. The label was announced with one original animated project,Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia.[52][53] However, del Toro moved his deal toDreamWorks Animation in late 2010.[54] From 2016 to 2018,Trollhunters was released to great acclaim on Netflix and "is tracking to be its most-watched kids original ever."[55]
In 2017, Del Toro had an exhibition of work at titledGuillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters, featuring his collection of paintings, drawings, maquettes, artifacts, and concept film art.[56] The exhibition ran from 1 August 2016 to 27 Nov 2016 at theLos Angeles County Museum of Art,[57] from 5 March 2017 to 28 May 2017 at theMinneapolis Institute of Art,[58] and from 30 September 2017 to 7 January 2018 at theArt Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.[59] A book about the exhibition was also published.[60]
In 2019, del Toro appeared in Hideo Kojima's video gameDeath Stranding, providing his likeness for the character Deadman.
In 2008, del Toro announced he was working on a darkstop-motionfilm adaptation of the Italian novelThe Adventures of Pinocchio, co-directed by Adam Parrish King, withThe Jim Henson Company as production company, and music byNick Cave.[65] The project had been in development for over a decade. The pre-production was begun by the studioShadowMachine. In 2017, del Toro announced thatPatrick McHale is co-writing the script of the film.[66] In the same year, del Toro revealed at the74th Venice International Film Festival that the film will be reimagined during the rise ofBenito Mussolini, and that he would need $35 million to make it.[67] In November 2017, it was reported that del Toro had cancelled the project because no studios were willing to finance it.[68] In October 2018, it was announced that the film had been revived, withNetflix backing the project. Netflix had previously collaborated with del Toro onTrollhunters. Many of the same details of the project remain the same, but withMark Gustafson now co-directing rather than Adam Parrish King. It premiered at theBFI London Film Festival on 15 October 2022,[69] and received a theatrical release on 9 November of the same year before a scheduled release on Netflix in December.[70] The film won theBest Animated Feature at the95th Academy Awards.[71]
In March 2023, it was confirmed that Del Toro would next direct his long in-developmentFrankenstein film, now based atNetflix.[72] Speaking about the film's significance in his filmography up to that point, Del Toro said: "This movie closes the cycle. If you look at the lineage, fromCronos toThe Devil’s Backbone, toPan’s Labyrinth toCrimson Peak to this, this is an evolution of a certain type of aesthetic, and a certain type of rhythm, and a certain type of empathy. I feel like I need a change ... You never know ... but right now, my desire is to try and do something very different."[73] The film saw a limited theatrical release starting on October 17, 2025, withOscar Isaac andJacob Elordi asVictor Frankenstein andThe Creature, respectively.
Announced in February 2023, del Toro will reteam with Netflix and ShadowMachine on thestop-motion filmThe Buried Giant.[74] At the 2023Annecy International Animation Film Festival he said he planned to leave live-action films and just do animation: "There are a couple more live-action movies I want to do but not many. After that, I only want to do animation. That's the plan." He also expressed frustration over the fact that five of his projects were turned down by studios in just two months.[75]
In 2012, del Toro participated in theSight & Sound film poll. Held every 10 years to select the greatest films of all time, contemporary directors are asked to select their 10 favorite films. Del Toro chose:[76]
Del Toro met and began dating Lorenza Newton, cousin of singerGuadalupe Pineda, when they were both studying at the Instituto de Ciencias in Guadalajara. They were married in 1986 and had two daughters together[78] before divorcing in September 2017.[79] In 2021, he married Kim Morgan, an American film historian who was formerly married to Canadian filmmakerGuy Maddin.[80]
Del Toro maintains homes inToronto andLos Angeles, and returns to his nativeGuadalajara every six weeks to visit his family.[81] He also owns two houses devoted exclusively to his collection of books, poster artwork, and other belongings pertaining to his work. He explained, "As a kid, I dreamed of having a house with secret passages and a room where it rained 24 hours a day. The point of being over 40 is to fulfill the desires you've been harboring since you were 7."[25]
In a 2007 interview, del Toro described his political position as "a little tooliberal". He pointed out that the villains in most of his films (such as theindustrialist inCronos, theNazis inHellboy,Italian Fascism inPinocchio, and theFrancoists inPan's Labyrinth) are united by the common attribute ofauthoritarianism: "I hate structure. I'm completely anti-structural in terms of believing in institutions. I hate them. I hate any institutionalized social, religious, or economic thing."[82]
In 2009, del Toro signed a petition in support of directorRoman Polanski after Polanski was detained while traveling to a film festival in relation to his 1977charges of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. The petition argued the arrest would undermine the tradition of film festivals as a place for works to be shown "freely and safely", and that arresting filmmakers traveling to neutral countries could open the door "for actions of which no-one can know the effects."[83][84]
RaisedCatholic, del Toro toldCharlie Rose in a 2009 interview that his upbringing was excessively "morbid" and said, "I mercifullylapsed as a Catholic... but asBuñuel used to say, 'I'm an atheist, thank God.'" He insists that he is spiritually "not with Buñuel" and that he is "once a Catholic, always a Catholic, in a way". He concluded, "I believe in Man. I believe in mankind, as the worst and the best that has happened to this world."[85] He has also responded to the claim that he views his art as his religion: "It is. To me, art and storytelling serve primal, spiritual functions in my daily life. Whether I'm telling a bedtime story to my kids or trying to mount a movie or write a short story or a novel, I take it very seriously."[25] Nevertheless, he became a "ragingatheist" after seeing a pile of human fetuses while volunteering at a Mexican hospital.[86] He also said that he was horrified by the way the Catholic Church complied withFrancoist Spain, and even had a character in one of his films quote what actual priests would say toRepublican faction members in concentration camps.[87] Upon discovering the religious beliefs of English writerC. S. Lewis, del Toro stated that he could no longer relate to Lewis and his work, despite having done so beforehand.[88] He described Lewis as "too Catholic" for him, despite the fact that Lewis was never a Catholic.[89]
Del Toro is not entirely disparaging of Catholicism, and his background continues to influence his work. While discussingThe Shape of Water, he mentioned the Catholic influence on the film: "A very Catholic notion is the humble force, or the force of humility, that gets revealed as a god like figure toward the end. It's also used in fairy tales. In fairy tales, in fact, there is an entire strand of tales that would be encompassed by the title 'The Magical Fish'. And [it's] not exactly a secret that afish is a Christian symbol." In the same interview, he said, "I don't think there is life beyond death, I don't. But I do believe that we get this clarity in the last minute of our life. The titles we achieved, the honors we managed, they all vanish. You are left alone with you and your deeds and the things you didn't do. And that moment of clarity gives you either peace or the most tremendous fear, because you finally have no cover, and you finally realize exactly who you are."[90]
In an interview for his book and exhibitionGuillermo del Toro at Home with Monsters, del Toro stated in 2016, "A lot ofMexican Catholic dogma, the way it's taught, it's about existing in a state of grace, which I found impossible to reconcile with the much darker view of the world and myself, even as a child. I couldn't make sense of impulses like rage or envy and, when I was older, more complex ones, you know. I felt there was a deep cleansing allowing for imperfection through the figure of a monster. Monsters are the patron saints of imperfection."[91]
Del Toro is highly skeptical ofAI in filmmaking, telling theBritish Film Institute in September 2024, "I saw a demo of AI [being used for animation] and I thought, 'Oh, that's what people think animation is: giving prompts and the computer does it. [...] AI has demonstrated that it can dosemi-compellingscreensavers—that's essentially that. And I think the value of art is not how much it costs and how little effort it requires, it's how much you would risk to be in its presence. Are [screensavers] going to make [viewers] cry because they lost a son, a mother? Because they misspent their youth? No. [AI is] in the hands of people that don't think about it as a tool but as a solution. [...] It should be, if at all, optional."[92]
While studying at university, del Toro published his first book when he wrote a biography of English filmmakerAlfred Hitchcock, whom he has long praised and admired.[93]
Del Toro's favorite film monsters areFrankenstein's monster, theXenomorph,Gill-man,Godzilla, andthe Thing.[96] Frankenstein in particular has a special meaning for him, in both film and literature, as he claims he has a "Frankenstein fetish to a degree that is unhealthy". He said, "It's the most important book of my life, so you know if I get to it, whenever I get to it, it will be the right way."[97] He usually watches three films a day,[98] and listsBrazil,Nosferatu,Freaks, andBram Stoker's Dracula among his favorite horrors.[99][100]
Del Toro is also a fan of Japanesemanga andanime, having called the animeDoraemon "the greatest kids series ever created".[101] He has citedHayao Miyazaki as one of his influences and one of his favorite storytellers in any medium, having identified with his style and influence through hisToei Animation andStudio Ghibli projects likeThe Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots,Heidi, Girl of the Alps,My Neighbor Totoro, andThe Boy and the Heron from childhood to adulthood, praising how he evokes the emotion of recognizing an impossible beauty only existing in films and realistically depicting brutal themes that affect the best and the worst of humanity, deeming Miyazaki an entirely genuine one-of-a-kind creator who exists fully in his art.[102]
Del Toro is highly interested in theculture of Victorian England. He said, "I have a room of my library at home called 'The Dickens Room'. It has every work byCharles Dickens,Wilkie Collins, and many other Victorian novelists, plus hundreds of works about Victorian London and its customs, etiquette, architecture. I'm aJack the Ripper aficionado, too. My museum/home has a huge amount of Ripperology in it."[103]
In 2019, del Toro paid for the flights of the Mexican teams to attend the 60thInternational Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in South Africa and the United Kingdom, after the Mexican chapter of the IMO announced the government had suspended financing for the youngsters.[104][105]
Del Toro has an honorary doctorate from theNational Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). In November 2022, UNAM awarded him theHonoris Causa Doctorate for his "contributions to culture and his support for the youth".[106]
Del Toro's father, Federico del Toro Torres, was kidnapped in Guadalajara around 1997. Del Toro's family had to pay twice the amount originally asked for as a ransom ($1 million). Immediately after learning of the kidnapping, fellow filmmakerJames Cameron, a friend of del Toro since they met after the production ofCronos, offered to help del Toro pay for the ransom, which del Toro accepted.[107] 72 days after Federico was kidnapped, the ransom was paid and he was released. The culprits were never apprehended, nor was the money ever recovered.[108] The event prompted del Toro, his parents, and his siblings to move abroad. In a 2008 interview withTime magazine, he mentioned the kidnapping of his father: "Every day, every week, something happens that reminds me that I am in involuntary exile [from my country]."[109][25]
^Wood, Jason,Talking Movies: Contemporary World Filmmakers in Interview, p. 29
^Boehm, Erich; Carver, Benedict (4 September 1998)."Tequila Gang to pour pix".Variety. Los Angeles, California: Penske Media Group.Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved9 March 2018.
^Nordyke, Kimberly; Lewis, Hilary (8 February 2022)."Oscars: Full List of Nominations".The Hollywood Reporter.Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved8 February 2022.
^"Conversations: Guillermo del Toro".Salon. 13 October 2006.Archived from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved19 December 2022. cited in:McDonald, Keith; Clark, Roger (2014).Guillermo del Toro: Film as Alchemic Art. Bloomsbury. p. 243.ISBN978-1-62356-013-3.
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