del Toro, Guillermo (Guillermo del Toro Gómez), 1964–, Mexican film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in special effects and makeup before becoming a writer and director. Del Toro has directed films in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, alternating somewhat between critically praised horror and fantasy films (often in Spanish) and highly popular English-language action films. His most notable fantasy films are The Devil's Backbone, (2001), a gothic ghost story set during the Spanish Civil War, Pan's Labyrinth (2006), a monster and ogre movie set in that war's aftermath, and The Shape of Water (2017; Academy Award, best director and best picture), about a deaf woman who falls in love with and rescues a humanoid aquatic creature. His action movies include Hellboy (2004) and its sequel (2008), based on the horned monster turned superhero of the comics, and Pacific Rim (2013), in which giant sea monsters are defeated by equally giant robotlike machines controlled by mentally conjoined copilots. With Chuck Hogan he also has written a vampire trilogy: The Strain (2009), The Fall (2010), and The Night Eternal (2011). After his father was kidnapped and held for ransom for 72 days in 1998, del Toro moved his family to the United States.
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