Alejandro González Iñárritu

Alejandro González Iñárritu (Spanish pronunciation: [aleˈxandɾo gonˈsales iˈɲaritu]; credited since 2014 as Alejandro G. Iñárritu; born August 15, 1963) is a Mexican film director, producer, screenwriter, and former composer. He is the first Mexican director to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing, for Babel (2007). He is also the first Mexican-born director to have won the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

His six feature films—Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), Babel (2006) (comprising the "Death Trilogy"), Biutiful (2010), Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), and The Revenant (2015)—have garnered critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including Academy Award nominations. Iñárritu won the Academy Award for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Picture for Birdman.

Early life

Alejandro González Iñárritu was born in Mexico City, the son of Luz María Iñárritu and Héctor González Gama. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a cargo ship at the age of 16 and 18, Iñárritu worked his way across Europe and Africa. He has noted that these early travels as a young man have had a great influence on him as a filmmaker. The settings of his films have often been in the places he visited during this period. After his travels, Iñárritu returned to Mexico City and majored in communications at Universidad Iberoamericana.