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Martin Scorsese (born November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York, USAMartin Scorsese is an American film director.

A highly admired, if controversial, director among film critics and scholars, Scorsese's works have addressed Italian-American identity and Catholic themes such as guilt and redemption, and the violence and hyper-masculinity associated with sociopathic personalities. Although he has received much critical acclaim and is one of the most recognizable names in the film industry, he has never won an Academy Award despite numerous nominations. Many critics consider him to the be one of the most significant living American filmmakers.

Scorsese originally planned to become a priest. He was bitten by the movie bug at a young age, and has admitted to being "obsessed" with movies, an obsession apparent in the 1995 documentary film . A sickly child, he spent much of his time recovering from asthma at home, watching the goings-on in the streets from his upstairs bedroom window. A great deal of his childhood was spent in movie theaters, and he resolved to become a filmmaker when he grew older.

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Martin Scorsese came from a working class Italian-American family; his father Luciano Charles Scorsese (1912-1993) was a pants presser in New York's garment district. He struggled to earn enough money to attend university, but has shown enormous gratitude to his parents for helping him realize his dreams. His parents were the subject of Scorsese's documentary and made numerous cameo appearances in his films before their deaths. For years, his mother worked as the official caterer for all of Scorsese's films and his father helped in the wardrobe department. Scorsese said of his father's work in that no one was able to press a collar as well as he could. Scorsese is often seen wearing impeccably tailored Armani suits, a taste probably stemming from his father's intricate knowledge of the elements of fine men's clothing.

Scorsese attended New York University's film school (B.A., English, 1964; M.A., film, 1966) making short films including a famous short entitled with fellow student Harvey Keitel, and editor Thelma Schoonmaker both of whom were to become long term collaborators. From there he became a friend and acquaintance of the so-called "movie brats" of the 1970s: Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg. It was De Palma who introduced Robert De Niro to Scorsese, and the two figures have become close friends, working together in many projects. Scorsese during this period also worked as one of the editors of the movie for famed B-movie producer Roger Corman, who had also helped directors like Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron and John Sayles to launch their careers. taught Scorsese how to make films cheaply and quickly, preparing him for his first film with De Niro, was a breakthrough for Scorsese and De Niro. Actress Ellen Burstyn chose Scorsese to direct her in the 1974 movie , for which she won an Oscar for Best Actress.

Returning to Little Italy in New York City to explore his ethnic roots, Scorsese came up with a rich documentary featuring his parents Charles and Catherine Scorsese, both of whom made cameo appearances in most of his movies, but are now deceased. The documentary was entitled "Black and white publicity still from Taxi Driver (1976); Martin Scorsese's cameo with Robert De Niro" . The film featured brilliant performances from Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster, in one of the most violent and grim depictions of life in New York City committed to film. It also marked the start of a series of collaborations with Paul Schrader. Five years after the film was released, in 1981, President Ronald Reagan was nearly assassinated by a young man who blamed his obsession with Foster's character for his act. won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival and also received four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, although all were unsuccessful. One of the things that made the film unique is Scorsese's use of point of view shots, which have become a trademark of many Scorsese films.

"In this cameo, Scorsese lounges in front of the building where Cybill Shepherd's character works. According to Shepherd, Scorsese requested a "Cybill Shepherd-type" for the role she played in Taxi Driver." In this cameo, Scorsese lounges in front of the building where Cybill Shepherd's character works. According to Shepherd, Scorsese requested a "Cybill Shepherd-type" for the role she played in . This musical tribute to Scorsese's home town was a box-office failure (it was released at the same time as ), and the disappointing reception drove Scorsese into depression. By this stage Scorsese had also developed a serious cocaine addiction. However, Scorsese did find the creative drive to make what is arguably the finest film about rock and roll, (1978), a beautifully photographed documentary of the final concert by The Band. Another Scorsese-directed documentary entitled

By many accounts, Scorsese's included, Robert DeNiro practically saved his life when he persuaded him to kick his cocaine addiction to make what many consider his greatest film, (released in 1980Martin Scorsese is widely viewed as a masterpiece and was voted the greatest film of the 1980s by Britain's prestigious magazine. The film received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Robert De Niro, and Scorsese's first for Best Director. De Niro won, as did Thelma Schoonmaker for the editing, but Scorsese lost to first-time director Robert Redford. It kept Scorsese in the world of the movies, though without a box office smash he had to struggle to continue to make films.

(1988Martin Scorsese is based on the 1951 book written by Nikos Kazantzakis, a book that Barbara Hershey gave to Scorsese when they were both attending New York University in the late 1960s. This was his second attempt at making this film. In 1983, it was slated to shoot under the Paramount Studios banner, but shortly before principal photography was to commence, Paramount pulled the plug on the project, citing pressure from religious groups. In this aborted 1983 version, Aidan Quinn was cast as Jesus, and Sting was cast as Pontius Pilate. In the 1988 version, these roles were played by Willem Dafoe and David Bowie.

After the collapse of this project Scorsese again saw his career at a critical point, as he described in the recent documentary (2004). He saw that in the increasingly commercial world of 1980s Hollywood the highly stylized and personal 1970s films he and others had built their careers on would not continue to enjoy the same status, and decided on an almost totally new approach to his work. With -- his way of staying viable. Filmed on an extremely low budget on location and at night in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, the film is a black comedy about one increasingly misfortunate night for a mild New York word processor (Griffin Dunne) and featured cameos by such disparate actors as Terri Garr and Cheech and Chong. A bit of a stylistic anomaly for Scorsese, fits in well with popular low-budget "cult" films of the 1980s, by lesser-known directors, e.g. Something Wild or Repo Man.

Along with the iconic 1987 Michael Jackson music video (1986). The latter starred Paul Newman and Tom Cruise, and it won Newman an Oscar, as well as giving Scorsese the clout to secure backing for a project that had been a longtime goal for him: on a low budget in 1987, knowing that the film would be controversial and would not take in record box-office revenues. However, he did not anticipate the furore and controversy his movie would spark when it was released a year later. Nationwide protests against the film made it a textbook case for the modern method of religious outrage and influence. The movie did have a number of staunch supporters, particularly among film critics, including Scorsese's friend Roger Ebert. Scorsese also received his second nomination for Best Director, although the award would go to Barry Levinson. The backing of the movie by important political figures kept Scorsese from becoming an outcast in Hollywood, and it gave him the impetus to film . Scorsese gives part of the credit for his inspiration for his two well known gangster films to "Musketeers of Pig Alley" one of the first ever gangster films made by the Biograph Company in 1912.

Scorsese returned to his native New York and reunited with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci (whom he had previously directed in , and it secured Scorsese a place among the greatest motion picture directors of all time. He earned his third (and, some would argue, most deserving) Best Director nomination but again lost to a first-time director, Kevin Costner.

Scorsese went on to direct a remake of the 1962 thriller , which proved to Hollywood that he could make a box-office hit. However, Scorsese's projects have continued to cast him as a figure who can make critically acclaimed pictures () that only turn in modest box-office revenues. He continued to be intimately involved in filmmaking through the 1990s, making cameo appearances in movies like as Will Smith's visibly annoyed boss, a blowfish.

In 1990, Martin Scorsese acted in a cameo role as Vincent Van Gogh in the film by legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. In 1999 he produced a documentary on Italian filmakers entitled . The documentary was produced by Giuliana Del Punta and Bruno Restuccia. Editing and printing has been made in Cinecitta Studios (Rome), color timer was Paolo Verrucci.

Scorsese's 2002 production of was seen as his biggest and most risk-taking venture to date. Originally filmed for a release in the winter of 2001 (to qualify for Academy Award nominations), Scorsese delayed the final production of the film until after the beginning of 2002; the studio consequently delayed the film for nearly a year until its release in the Oscar season of late 2002. With a production budget said to be in excess of $100 million, this was Scorsese's most expensive work. Critical reaction to the film was moderately positive (movie critics familiar with Scorsese's work felt it was flawed), and while the movie wasn't a smashing box-office blockbuster, it wasn't a dismal failure in theatrical revenue. In February of 2003, for Daniel Day-Lewis. This being his fourth Best Director nomination, many thought it was finally his year to win, but the award went instead to Roman Polanski.

Scorsese's film , is a biopic of director, producer, legendary eccentric, multi-millionaire and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes. It was released in December 2004 and met mostly with critical acclaim. The film was nominated for six Golden Globe awards, including became the most-nominated film of the 77th Academy Award nominations, nominated in 11 categories including Best Picture. The film has also garnered nominations in nearly all of the other major categories, including Best Picture, a fifth Best Director nomination for Scorsese, Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett), and a surprise nod for Alan Alda for Best Supporting Actor. Despite having a leading tally, the film ended up with only five Oscars: Best Supporting Actress, Art Direction, Costume Design, Film Editing and Cinematography. Scorsese lost out (again), this time to director Clint Eastwood for (which also won Best Picture).

Scorsese is currently in post-production of a crime thriller set in Boston, Massachusetts, based upon , a trio of Hong Kong action pictures centered upon battles between the Asian police and the gangs in the area. The film is tentatively entitled The Departed. The film will once again unite Scorsese with Leonardo DiCaprio, an actor he has now been working with for three consecutive films. 'The Departed' will also bring Scorsese together with Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg, none of whom he has worked with before.

Scorsese is president of the Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation and decaying motion picture film stock.

At a ceremony in Paris, France on January 5, 2005, Martin Scorsese was awarded the French Legion of Honor in recognition of his contribution to cinema.

Begins his films with segments taken from the middle or end of the story. Examples include Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995).His blonde leading ladies are usually seen through the eyes of the protagonist as angelic and ethereal; they always wear white in their first scene and are photographed in slow-motion (Cybill Shepherd in Taxi Driver (1976); Cathy Moriarty's white bikini in Raging Bull (1980); Sharon Stone's white minidress in Casino (1995)). As the movie progresses, these ladies usually prove to be anything *but* angelic.Use of montage sequences involving aggressive camera movement and rapid editing, set to popular music.

The main themes of Scorsese's work are intimately wrapped up in his Roman Catholic upbringing and his early attraction to the priesthood. Scorsese has once remarked that when he was growing up the most powerful people in his neighborhood were the gangsters and the priests. He claims that as a filmmaker he is in some ways a combination of the two.

Redemption and sin are the primary themes of Scorsese's films. His heroes tend to be fallen souls seeking redemption in a world of corruption. They often achieve this redemption only through a "passion", a crucifixion of sorts, in which a blood penance is extracted for their former sins. Charlie's final scene in would all seem to be expressions of this obsession with sin and redemption.

Scorsese's films have, oddly enough, become more bleak in this regard as his career goes on. all end with their protagonists trapped in a metaphorical purgatory from which it is uncertain they will be redeemed.

Solitude and obsession also permeate Scorsese's films. His characters tend to be loners or misunderstood outcasts who are driven by emotional forces they cannot fully control. Over the course of his films, these forces tend to gather strength until they erupt into a frenzy of emotional or physical violence. It has been said that this is one of the factors which attracts actors to his films, because it gives them the opportunity to play extremely emotionally dynamic characters.

The corruption of the material world and the fall from paradise are also persistent themes in Scorsese's films, particularly in his gangster films. His characters are often torn between the temptations of the material world and the self-betrayal of their own spirits that the material world demands of them. This conflict often erupts into a cataclysmic fall from grace that sometimes leads to a quiet redemption. This theme is most explicit in , which ends with a New Testament verse spoken by a blind man who has been given sight by Jesus.

Scorsese has been nominated five times for an Oscar for Best Director, but has never won. This places him in the company of such directors as Alfred Hitchcock (5 nominations), Robert Altman (5), Stanley Kubrick (4), Federico Fellini (4), and Ingmar Bergman (3), all of whom are also considered masters of cinema and none of whom won an Oscar for directing.