Film director Martin Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942, in New York.

He was born into an Italian immigrant family and grew up loving movies. In 1963, he directed What's a Girl Doing Here?, a Girl Like You?. He later won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Taxi Driver (1976), starring Robert De Niro. He continued to collaborate with De Niro, producing films such as New York, New York (1977), The Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), and Goodfellas (1990).

He won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival for After Words (1985), the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival for Goodfellas, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Director for 2002's Gangs of New York, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2006, he won Best Director and Best Picture at the 79th Academy Awards for The Departed.

He is an admirer of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, and in 1990 he appeared in Kurosawa's film Dreams, playing the role of painter Van Gogh.