Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970), also known by his initials PTA, is an American filmmaker. Often described as one of the preeminent filmmakers of his generation, he is the recipient of three Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, four BAFTAs, three Critics Choice Awards, and nominations for a Grammy. He is the only person to have won the Academy Award for Best Director, as well as the Best Director Awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to those accolades, he won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Many of Anderson's films are psychological dramas characterized by depictions of desperate characters and explorations of dysfunctional families, alienation, loneliness, and redemption, alongside a bold visual style that uses constantly moving cameras and long takes. After his directorial debut, Hard Eight (1996), Anderson had critical and commercial success with Boogie Nights (1997), and received further accolades with Magnolia (1999) and Punch-Drunk Love (2002). There Will Be Blood (2007), Anderson's fifth film, is regarded as one of the greatest films of the 21st century. It was followed by The Master (2012) and Inherent Vice (2014), an adaptation of the 2009 novel by Thomas Pynchon. Anderson's next three films, Phantom Thread (2017), Licorice Pizza (2021) and One Battle After Another (2025) were all nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, while the last earned him wins for both and Best Adapted Screenplay and became his highest-grossing film. Anderson is noted for his collaborations with the cinematographer Robert Elswit, the costume designer Mark Bridges, the composers Jon Brion and Jonny Greenwood, and actors including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Daniel Day-Lewis, John C. Reilly, and Joaquin Phoenix. He has directed music videos for artists including Fiona Apple, Haim, Aimee Mann, Joanna Newsom, Michael Penn, Radiohead, and the Smile. He also directed a 2015 documentary about Greenwood's album Junun, and the short music film Anima (2019) for the Radiohead singer Thom Yorke. Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Thomas Anderson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

• 2026Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall — Director, Camera Operator, Producer, Director of Photography
• 2026Digger — Thanks
• 2026Learning, Studying… Always Perfecting: The Making of One Battle After Another — Self, Additional Photography
• 2025Escape Room — Executive Producer
• 2025One Battle After Another — Director, Writer, Producer
• 2023Beau Is Afraid — Thanks
• 2023Napoleon — Script Consultant
• 2021Licorice Pizza — Director of Photography, Writer, Producer
• 2019Anima — Director, Producer
• 2019The Dead Don't Die — Thanks
• 2018Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh — Additional Second Assistant Director
• 2018Waterlily Jaguar — Executive Producer
• 2017HAIM / Valentine — Director
• 2017Phantom Thread — Director, Writer, Producer, Director of Photography
• 2016Daydreaming — Director
• 2015Junun — Self (voice) (uncredited), Director, Camera Operator
• 2014Inherent Vice — Director, Producer, Writer
• 2013The Master: Unguided Message
• 2012The Master — Writer, Director, Producer
• 2007There Will Be Blood — Producer, Director, Writer
• 200312 Scopitones — Director, Writer
• 2003Couch — Director, Writer
• 2003Mattress Man Commercial — Director
• 2002Ballchewer — Director
• 2002Minority Report — Bus Passenger (uncredited)
• 2002Punch-Drunk Love — Producer, Director, Writer
• 2002The Truth About Charlie — Thanks
• 2001Corky Romano — Script Editor
• 1999Magnolia — Man Confiscating Sign (uncredited), Director, Producer, Writer
• 1998Flagpole Special — Writer, Director
• 1997Boogie Nights — Director, Producer, Writer
• 1997Hard Eight — Director, Writer
• 1993Cigarettes & Coffee — Writer, Director
• 1992Production Assistant — self, Director
• 1988The Dirk Diggler Story — Director, Director of Photography, Writer
• Saturday Night Live — Director, Writer
• What Happens at Night — Writer

Appearances as themselves (12)

• 2026The Voice Still Carries: The Aimee Mann Story — Self (archive footage)
• 2023Art-House America: Austin Film Society — Self
• 2022"Sr." — Self (archive footage)
• 2015A Christmas Eve Conversation With Quentin Tarantino & Paul Thomas Anderson — Self
• 2015Chryskylodon Blues — Self
• 2014Altman — Self
• Leçon de Cinéma — Self
• Jimmy Kimmel Live! — Self
• 2000That Moment: Magnolia Diary — Self
• 1999Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes — Self
• The Oscars — Self
• Golden Globe Awards — Self - Nominee