- Born
- Birth nameGuillermo del Toro Gómez
- Height5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
- Guillermo del Toro was born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Raised by his Catholic grandmother, del Toro developed an interest in filmmaking in his early teens. Later, he learned about makeup and effects from the legendary Dick Smith (The Exorcist (1973)) and worked on making his own short films. At the age of 21, del Toro executive produced his first feature, Dona Herlinda and Her Son (1985). Del Toro spent almost 10 years as a makeup supervisor, and formed his own company, Necropia in the early 1980s. He also produced and directed Mexican television programs at this time, and taught film.
Del Toro got his first big break when Cronos (1992) won nine Ariel Awards (the Mexican equivalent of the Oscars), then went on to win the International Critics Week Prize at Cannes. Following this success, del Toro made his first Hollywood film, Mimic (1997), starring Mira Sorvino.
Del Toro had some unfortunate experiences working with a demanding Hollywood studio on Mimic (1997), and returned to Mexico to form his own production company, The Tequila Gang.
Next for del Toro, was The Devil's Backbone (2001), a Spanish Civil War ghost story. The film was hailed by critics and audiences alike, and del Toro decided to give Hollywood another try. In 2002, he directed the Wesley Snipes vampire sequel, Blade II (2002).
On a roll, Del Toro followed up Blade II (2002) with another successful comic-book inspired film, Hellboy (2004), starring one of Del Toro's favorite actors, Ron Perlman.
Del Toro is divorced, has a daughter and a son and lives in Los Angeles and Toronto.- IMDb Mini Biography By: www.deltorofilms.com - Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican film director, screenwriter, producer, and novelist. In his filmmaking career, Del Toro has alternated between Spanish-language dark fantasy pieces, such as the gothic horror films El espinazo del diablo (2001), and El laberinto del fauno (2006), and more mainstream American action movies, such as the vampire superhero action film, Blade II (2002), the supernatural superhero film Hellboy (2004), its sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), science fiction monster film Pacific Rim (2013), and the gothic romance film, Crimson Peak (2015).
He is also a prolific producer, his producing works include acclaimed and successful films such as The Orphanage (2007), Julia's Eyes (2010), Biutiful (2010), Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), Puss in Boots (2011), and Mama (2013). He was originally chosen by Peter Jackson to direct The Hobbit films; he left the project due to production problems but was still credited as co-writer for his numerous contributions to the script.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Pedro Borges
- SpousesKim Morgan(May 2021 - present)Lorenza Newton(1986 - 2017) (divorced, 2 children)
- Children
- ParentsGuadalupe del ToroFederico Del Toro
- Often uses insects or insect imagery
- Uses a lot of religious relics and artifacts. Always mentions Catholicism
- Archangels, symbols and other religious items
- Many of his films have major scenes based in underground areas such as subways systems (Mimic (1997), Hellboy (2004)), sewers (Blade II (2002)), or large basements (The Devil's Backbone (2001)).
- Likes to use amber as a dominant color in his movies. This is especially noticeable in Blade II (2002) and Hellboy (2004).
- His movie and comic book collection is so huge that he had to buy an extra home to accommodate this.
- Fought the film studios for almost seven years to get Ron Perlman for the title role in Hellboy (2004). The studio wanted a bigger name to ensure the success of the movie, but del Toro thought that Perlman was the perfect choice and wouldn't make the movie if he wasn't cast.
- Good friends with director James Cameron. Cameron helped him pay the ransom for his kidnapped father in 1997, and once revealed that he nearly got into a fight with Harvey Weinstein over the latter's treatment of del Toro during the filming of Mimic (1997).
- Following his international breakthrough, his father was kidnapped for ransom in Mexico in 1997, and held for seventy-two days until the money was paid. Fellow filmmaker James Cameron helped secure the ransom money. Although del Toro still frequently works in Mexico, he has relocated his family to the United States out of fear of more kidnappings.
- Turned down a chance to direct I Am Legend (2007), One Missed Call (2008), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) and Halo to work on Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008).
- When you have the intuition that there is something which is there, but out of the reach of your physical world, art and religion are the only means to get to it.
- Aside from being a perfect Hellboy, he is a gentleman, a friend to die for, a great actor and - for the ladies - he has the sexiest male voice this side of Barry White. What more can one ask for? - On Ron Perlman, 2002.
- I remember the worst experience of my life, even above the kidnapping of my father, was shooting Mimic (1997) [del Toro's first Hollywood feature, in 1997, which was severely compromised by producer interference]. Because what was happening to me and the movie was far more illogical than kidnapping, which is brutal, but at least there are rules. Now when I look at Mimic, what I see is the pain of a deeply flawed creature that could have been so beautiful.
- It would be a cliché to say that, because I am a Mexican, I see death in a certain way. But I have seen more than my share of corpses, certainly more than the average First World guy. I worked for months next to a morgue that I had to go through to get to work. I've seen people being shot; I've had guns put to my head; I've seen people burnt alive, stabbed, decapitated ... because Mexico is still a very violent place. So I do think that some of that element in my films comes from a Mexican sensibility.
- The sign of a true friendship is when you can forgive success.
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