Taylor Hackford

Director Taylor Hackford, a DGA member for over 40 years, served as Guild president from 2009 to 2013.  He began his career in entertainment at KCET, the Los Angeles public television affiliate, as a producer/director/reporter. His documentary on Los Angeles Poet, Charles Bukowski, won the San Francisco Film Festival Silver Reel Award. His dramatic film debut was Tennage Father in 1979, which won him an Academy Award for short dramatic film.  His feature film debut was The Idolmaker in 1980, followed by An Officer in 1982, which was Nominated for five Oscars, the film won Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Song (Up Where We Belong).

He went on to produce and direct Against All Odds in 1984, White Nights in 1985, Everybody’s All-American in 1988, and the acclaimed documentary Chuck Berry – Hail! Hail! Rock’n’Roll in 1987, starring Chuck Berry and Keith Richards. He then developed and produced La Bamba in 1987, the biography of Richie Valens, which remains the most successful Latin-themed feature film in Hollywood history.  He also directed the epic East L.A. gangster drama Blood In, Blood Out (Bound by Honor), which won Hackford the Best Director award at the 1993 Tokyo Film Festival. When We Were Kings won him the Oscar for Best Documentary in 1997.  In 1998, he directed The Devil’s Advocate, a world-renowned contemporary morality tale, followed by the global success of Ray, a film about the life of Ray Charles. The most nominated film of 2005, including six Oscars, Jamie Foxx won Best Actor. More recently, he directed The Comedian in 2017, and in June 2021 received one of France’s highest civilian honors when the French Ministry of Culture conferred on him the honor of Commandeur.