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Alfonso Cuarón

Director, writer and producer

Film & TV Mexico Hall No. 52

Profile

Why they shine

Alfonso Cuarón makes films that behave like unbroken time. Gravity, the space drama that cost him four and a half years of production, was shot for the most part inside a light box of 4,096 individually controlled LEDs; he took Best Director for it on 2 March 2014, the first Mexican to win the award. Five years later Roma, which he also shot himself, in black and white on 65 mm, took Best Director again, alongside Best Cinematography, and for Mexico its first Best International Feature. Cuarón grew up in Mexico City and built Roma on his own childhood, following the women who kept that household running.

Full name: Alfonso Cuarón
Nationality: Mexico
Known for: Gravity, Roma, Children of Men
Role: Director / Writer / Producer
Oscar wins: Best Director, 2014 and 2019
Signature: Long takes; he photographs his own films

Record

Honor record

Academy Award for Best Director

2014 · Mar 2, 2014

Dolby Theatre, Hollywood

The first Mexican director to win the award, for Gravity, a production that took four and a half years to make and gathered seven Oscars in all, including Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. In his acceptance speech Cuarón credited his mother, saying that if he was there at all, it was because of her.

Academy Award for Best Director

2019 · Feb 24, 2019

Dolby Theatre, Hollywood

His second Best Director Oscar, for Roma, which he shot himself on 65 mm in black and white. Roma took three Oscars that night: Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best International Feature Film for Mexico, the country's first win in the category. It was shot in the house and streets where Cuarón grew up.

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