---
name: "Alejandro Amenábar"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/alejandro-amenabar"
fi1m_id: "alejandro-amenabar"
imdb_id: "nm0024622"
tmdb_id: 19840
wikidata_id: "Q274070"
roles: ["Writer","Director"]
born: "31 March 1972"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-04T22:47:50.819885+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Alejandro Amenábar

## Identity

Alejandro Amenábar

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/alejandro-amenabar
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** alejandro-amenabar
- **IMDb ID:** nm0024622
- **TMDB ID:** 19840
- **Wikidata ID:** Q274070
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Amen%C3%A1bar, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q274070, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0024622/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/19840

Writer and director. Born 31 March 1972 in Santiago de Chile, Chile.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Director
- **Born:** 31 March 1972, Santiago de Chile, Chile
- **Active:** 1997–2009
- **Also known as:** Alejandro Fernando Amenábar Cantos
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 3 directing, 1 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Fernando Bovaira](https://film.one/person/fernando-bovaira.md), [José Luis Cuerda](https://film.one/person/jose-luis-cuerda.md), [Mateo Gil](https://film.one/person/mateo-gil.md)
- **Golden Globes:** 1 Golden Globe (1 won)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 73 (1), 2000s 68 (3)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Amen%C3%A1bar, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q274070, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0024622/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/19840

## Streaming the US now

- **AMC+:** [*The Others*](https://film.one/film/the-others.md) (80)
- **Apple TV:** [*Open Your Eyes*](https://film.one/film/open-your-eyes.md) (73)
- **Netflix:** [*Agora*](https://film.one/film/agora.md) (66)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Alejandro Amenábar

> Alejandro Amenábar is at his most persuasive when he makes us listen to a dark house and watch someone struggle to stay composed. We rate his patient suspense, though that patience can harden into stiffness.

In *The Others* (2001), a disturbance in the house makes us listen for someone the picture has not shown. Alejandro Amenábar leaves enough time for that uncertainty to become uncomfortable, without resorting to graphic violence. We were frightened because the sounds kept suggesting a presence we could neither locate nor dismiss. His restraint works because we have time to imagine what might be there, and cannot make the next sound arrive any sooner.

His feature debut, *Tesis* (1996), was produced by José Luis Cuerda. The psychological science-fiction thriller *Open Your Eyes* (1997) followed, before *The Others* brought him an international audience. *The Sea Inside* (2004) and the historical drama *Agora* (2009) broadened his work towards moral dilemmas beyond the thriller. The danger, noted by critics of *Agora*, is that explaining the subject leaves less room to care about the people.

Kidman’s performance is essential to why *The Others* works as well as it does. Grace’s effort to hold herself together gives Amenábar’s careful writing something more urgent than the preparation of another scare. He lets her distress remain central, so the house is frightening for reasons that belong to this mother rather than to any convenient ghost story. The writing carefully limits what we know, but the actors prevent the film from becoming an exercise in arranging clues.

The same control is less helpful when it governs every pause. Editor Nacho Ruiz Capillas gives the disturbances in *The Others* room to develop, but some stretches outlast the unease and leave us waiting for the film to get on with it. Amenábar’s own score sustains the mood, though the sound and silence do more to frighten us than the music. Start with *The Others*, provided a ghost story that occasionally keeps you waiting is still your idea of an evening well spent.

## Biography

Alejandro Amenábar is a Chilean-Spanish film director, screenwriter and composer. Born in Santiago de Chile in 1972, he moved with his family to Spain at the age of one and studied cinema at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid before dropping out to make films.

He wrote, directed and often composed the scores for his early features *Thesis* (1996) and *Open Your Eyes* (1997). His international breakthrough came with *The Others* (2001), which he wrote, directed and scored, starring Nicole Kidman. Subsequent films include *The Sea Inside* (2004), *Agora* (2009) and *Regression* (2015).

Amenábar has won nine Goya Awards, including Best Director for *The Others*, and accepted the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for *The Sea Inside* on behalf of Spain.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (4)

### Directed (3)

- *Agora* (2009), Fi1m 66, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/agora.md)
- *The Others* (2001), Fi1m 80, Writer, Director, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/the-others.md)
- *Open Your Eyes* (1997), Fi1m 73, Director, Original Music Composer, Screenplay, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/open-your-eyes.md)

### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these

- *Vanilla Sky* (2001), Fi1m 58, Original Film Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/vanilla-sky.md)

## Complete filmography (19)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Misión imposible, no... lo siguiente* (2026), Actor
- *The Captive* (2025), Director, Screenplay, Original Music Composer, Producer
- *La Fortuna* (2021), series, Director, Writer, Creator
- *While at War* (2019), Director, Producer, Screenplay, Original Music Composer
- *Regression* (2015), Screenplay, Director, Producer
- *Cousinhood* (2011), Thanks
- *Spanish Movie* (2009), as Reflejo espejo
- *Agora* (2009), Director, Writer — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/agora.md)
- *Spectre* (2006), as Man Looking at Statue (uncredited)
- *The Sea Inside* (2004), Producer, Director, Original Music Composer, Editor, Writer
- *Vanilla Sky* (2001), Original Film Writer — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/vanilla-sky.md)
- *The Others* (2001), Original Music Composer, Writer, Director — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/the-others.md)
- *Nobody Knows Anybody* (1999), as Original Music Composer
- *Butterfly* (1999), Music
- *Allanamiento de morada* (1998), Music
- *Open Your Eyes* (1997), Screenplay, Director, Original Music Composer — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/open-your-eyes.md)
- *Thesis* (1996), Screenplay, Original Music Composer, Director, Associate Producer, Story
- *Luna* (1995), as Waiter · Original Music Composer, Writer, Director
- *Himenóptero* (1992), as Bosco · Director, Writer, Original Music Composer, Editor

## Gallery

- ![Alejandro Amenábar](https://film.one/media/person/97440/gallery-f6430eaa0cf1.jpg) Alejandro Amenábar — Pedro J Pacheco, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Goyas_2025_-Alejandro_Amen%C3%A1bar_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Goyas_2025_-Alejandro_Amen%C3%A1bar_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Oscar Isaac, Director Alejandro Amenábar and Production Designer Guy Hendrix Dyas on set in Malta. (2008)](https://film.one/media/person/97440/gallery-9fdce99a976b.jpg) Oscar Isaac, Director Alejandro Amenábar and Production Designer Guy Hendrix Dyas on set in Malta. (2008) — Isabella700, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Agora_Alejandro_Amenabar_Oscar_Isaac_Guy_Hendrix_Dyas.jpg/1280px-Agora_Alejandro_Amenabar_Oscar_Isaac_Guy_Hendrix_Dyas.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Premios Goya 2017](https://film.one/media/person/97440/gallery-e43ed855b526.jpg) Premios Goya 2017 — Ruben Ortega, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Alejandro_Amen%C3%A1bar_en_los_Premios_Goya_2017.jpg/1280px-Alejandro_Amen%C3%A1bar_en_los_Premios_Goya_2017.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Premier Regresión 2015](https://film.one/media/person/97440/gallery-a98f865abb41.jpg) Premier Regresión 2015 — Vicky Carras, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Amenabar_%2822022306905%29.jpg/1280px-Amenabar_%2822022306905%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Alejandro Amenábar](https://film.one/media/person/97440/gallery-e7ab5456d686.jpg) Alejandro Amenábar — Image via TMDB
- ![Premier Regresión 2015](https://film.one/media/person/97440/gallery-416297036d55.jpg) Premier Regresión 2015 — Vicky Carras, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/Amenabar_%2822022306905%29_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Amenabar_%2822022306905%29_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Descubrimiento del monolito Premio Málaga Sur a Alejandro Amenábar en el Festival de Málaga 2021](https://film.one/media/person/97440/gallery-f6d0785e61e5.jpg) Descubrimiento del monolito Premio Málaga Sur a Alejandro Amenábar en el Festival de Málaga 2021 — Pedro J Pacheco, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Festival_de_M%C3%A1laga_2021_-_Alejandro_Amenabar_2.jpg/1280px-Festival_de_M%C3%A1laga_2021_-_Alejandro_Amenabar_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Golden Globes — 1 won

- 2005: Best Non-English Language Film (won), for *The Sea Inside*

### Other awards — 2 won, 5 nominated

- European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2010: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated), for *Agora*
- Time Machine Award 2006: Time Machine Award (won)
- European Film Award for Best Cinematographer 2004: European Film Award for Best Cinematographer (won), for *The Sea Inside*
- European Film Award for Best Director 2004: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated), for *The Sea Inside*
- European Film Award for Best Film 2004: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *The Sea Inside*
- European Film Award for Best Screenwriter 2004: European Film Award for Best Screenwriter (nominated), for *The Sea Inside*
- European Film Award for Best Film 2001: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *The Others*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/alejandro-amenabar