Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro was born on this day in 1964. He made his feature directorial debut with 'Cronos' (1993) and went on to make his Hollywood film debut with 'Mimic' (1997). He soon gained a reputation as a skilled maker of dark fantasy and superhero and action movies, achieving considerable success with 'The Devil's Backbone' (2001), Blade II (2002), 'Hellboy' (2004), 'Pan's Labyrinth' (2006), 'Pacific Rim' (2013) and 'Crimson Peak' (2015).

Critical and commercial success followed with 'The Shape of Water' (2017) which won the Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards. More recently 'Nightmare Alley' (2021) and 'Pinocchio' (2022) have further cemented his status as a unique talent in modern cinema. Happy Birthday Guillermo.