Born on November 17th 1942, exactly 83 years ago, Martin Scorsese is one of the most significant filmmakers of the film industry. He made his debut in 1967 with the movie Who’s That Knocking at my Door, and has a history of 56 years in film directing: his latest movie was released in 2023, Killers of the Flower Moon.
With memorable action scenes and deep characters, Scorsese created stories that marked many generations of film lovers. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look at his most special moments and best works!
Life achiviments and more!
As a child, Martin was often taken to movie theaters by his family, and that’s where his biggest passion started. Fascinated by Jean Renoir, John Ford, Roberto Rossellini, Alfred Hitchcock, he felt an inspiration that would later build his whole career and path. His initial desire of becoming a priest didn’t work, so — luckily for us — he chose cinema instead. A few years later, Scorsese enrolled at New York University, becoming Master of Arts from NYU’S Steinhardt in 1968.
The great breakthrough of Scorsese’s career was the release of Mean Streets (1973), a movie directed by him that marked the beginning of his friendship and partnership with Robert De Niro and the consolidation of his signature style: New Yorker scenes with brutal bloodshed and Catholic guilt, built with quick-cut editing and contemporary music in the soundtrack. This went on with Taxi Driver, one of his most famous films that finally brought Scorsese the attention he deserved — winning Palme d’Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, the movie opened his way to many other big projects and encouraged him to move ahead with other styles and productions, like the musical New York, New York, released in 1977.
His team up with De Niro went on and, together, they made many other successful and powerful stories: Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991) and more. They became one of the biggest duos in cinema, a brotherhood that ineffably surpassed the screens.
In an interview for People Magazine, De Niro said he feels very lucky to have a long relationship with Scorsese: “I can’t imagine my life without it”. Until this day, Robert and Martin keep a deep connection, almost in a literate way; this year, they hopped on the internet trend of calling a friend, just to say “hi”:
Soon after his great success and establishment, Scorsese became an acclaimed and loved filmmaker by many actors and movie audiences: admired by big names and the public, he kept making films and building stories that revolutionized cinema history. Finally, after seven previous nominations, Scorsese won the Best Director Academy Award for his direction on The Departed. Later on, he was nominated at the Oscars eight additional times, but unfortunately didn’t take the statuettes home. Still, many say he has two Oscars: the 2007 award, and the other is his dog, a schnauzer who’s also named Oscar. Let’s be real — no Academy Award can beat a cute furry friend!
After all these years building an empire as an exceptional filmmaker, he still makes contact with his fans through TikTok with his daughter Francesca Scorsese. He hops on trends, record dance videos and even talks about his own movies. His legacy resonates in several renowned and major productions and his story on cinema is, until now, being written.
In October 2025, Apple TV released a documentary about his life, entitled Mr. Scorsese; it explores his life through interviews with the living legend himself and some of his coworkers, that are, more than that, his friends. It’s a beautiful and deep dive on his career and existence as a whole, even though it’s nearly impossible to summarize this exceptional of a person in five episodes.
We wish Martin Scorsese the happiest birthday, and that his stories keep changing people’s lives, like they always did!
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The article above was edited by Maria Clara Polcan.
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