---
name: "Guillermo Arriaga"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/guillermo-arriaga"
fi1m_id: "guillermo-arriaga"
imdb_id: "nm0037247"
tmdb_id: 273
wikidata_id: "Q540725"
roles: ["Writer","Producer"]
born: "13 March 1958"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 74
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-21T03:30:01.378826+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."
---

# Guillermo Arriaga

## Identity

Guillermo Arriaga

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/guillermo-arriaga
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** guillermo-arriaga
- **IMDb ID:** nm0037247
- **TMDB ID:** 273
- **Wikidata ID:** Q540725
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_Arriaga, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q540725, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0037247/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/273

Writer and producer. Born 13 March 1958 in Mexico City, Mexico.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Producer
- **Born:** 13 March 1958, Mexico City, Mexico
- **Active:** 2000–2006
- **Also known as:** 길예르모 아리아가
- **Frequently works with:** [Alejandro González Iñárritu](https://film.one/person/alejandro-g-inarritu.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 74, as writer, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 74 to 68 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Thriller 2, Crime 1
- **Screen time:** 7 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $217m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_Arriaga, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q540725, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0037247/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/273

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*Amores Perros*](https://film.one/film/amores-perros.md) (85)
- **Hulu:** [*Babel*](https://film.one/film/babel.md) (64)

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

## Biography

Guillermo Arriaga is a Mexican screenwriter, novelist, director and producer. Born in Mexico City in 1958, he studied communications and history at the Universidad Iberoamericana, where he later taught.

He is best known for his screenplays for *Amores Perros* (2000), *21 Grams* (2003), *The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada* (2005) and *Babel* (2006). The last of these earned Academy Award and BAFTA nominations for best original screenplay; *The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada* won the Cannes Film Festival award for best screenplay. Arriaga has also written novels including *Escuadrón Guillotina* (1991) and *Un dulce olor a muerte* (1994), and made his directorial debut with *The Burning Plain* (2008).

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

## On Fi1m (3)

- *Babel* (2006), Fi1m 64, Writer, Idea — [page](https://film.one/film/babel.md)
- *21 Grams* (2003), Fi1m 72, Writer, Associate Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/21-grams.md)
- *Amores Perros* (2000), Fi1m 85, Writer, Associate Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/amores-perros.md)

## Complete filmography (23)

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

- *A Wolf Among the Swans* (2025), Creative Producer
- *Upon Open Sky* (2024), Writer, Producer
- *No One Left Behind* (2019), Director, Writer
- *Zero Hour* (2019), Screenplay
- *B-167-980-098* (2018), Screenplay
- *Guiltless* (2017), Screenplay, Executive Producer
- *On the Milky Road* (2016), Executive Producer
- *From Afar* (2015), Producer, Writer
- *In Self Defense* (2015), Writer, Screenplay
- *Words with Gods* (2014), Director, Producer, Writer
- *Rio, I Love You* (2014), Director, Writer
- *Broken Night* (2013), Director, Writer
- *The Burning Plain* (2008), Director, Screenplay
- *The Night Buffalo* (2007), Screenplay, Novel, Producer
- *Babel* (2006), Writer, Idea — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/babel.md)
- *The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada* (2005), as Juan · Writer
- *Elephants Never Forget* (2004), Producer
- *21 Grams* (2003), Writer, Associate Producer — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/21-grams.md)
- *Powder Keg* (2001), Writer
- *The Hire* (2001), series, Writer
- *Rogelio* (2001), Director, Writer, Story
- *Amores Perros* (2000), Writer, Associate Producer — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/amores-perros.md)
- *A Sweet Scent of Death* (1999), Novel

## Gallery

- ![Los cineastas y escritores mexicano, Guillermo Arriaga, y chileno, Boris Quercia, durante la presentación de la novela del primero, El salvaje, en la Feria Inte (2017)](https://film.one/media/person/96858/gallery-29475241630d.jpg) Los cineastas y escritores mexicano, Guillermo Arriaga, y chileno, Boris Quercia, durante la presentación de la novela del primero, El salvaje, en la Feria Inte (2017) — Rodrigo Fernández, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Arriaga%2C_Guillermo_%26_Quercia%2C_Boris_-FILSA_20171110_fRF01.jpg/1280px-Arriaga%2C_Guillermo_%26_Quercia%2C_Boris_-FILSA_20171110_fRF01.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Los cineastas y escritores mexicano, Guillermo Arriaga, y chileno, Boris Quercia, durante la presentación de la novela del primero, El salvaje, en la Feria Inte (2017)](https://film.one/media/person/96858/gallery-056b7f18fc83.jpg) Los cineastas y escritores mexicano, Guillermo Arriaga, y chileno, Boris Quercia, durante la presentación de la novela del primero, El salvaje, en la Feria Inte (2017) — Rodrigo Fernández, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Arriaga%2C_Guillermo_%26_Quercia%2C_Boris_-FILSA_20171110_fRF02.jpg/1280px-Arriaga%2C_Guillermo_%26_Quercia%2C_Boris_-FILSA_20171110_fRF02.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Los cineastas y escritores mexicano, Guillermo Arriaga, y chileno, Boris Quercia, durante la presentación de la novela del primero, El salvaje, en la Feria Inte (2017)](https://film.one/media/person/96858/gallery-da9af125df22.jpg) Los cineastas y escritores mexicano, Guillermo Arriaga, y chileno, Boris Quercia, durante la presentación de la novela del primero, El salvaje, en la Feria Inte (2017) — Rodrigo Fernández, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Arriaga%2C_Guillermo_%26_Quercia%2C_Boris_-FILSA_20171110_fRF03.jpg/1280px-Arriaga%2C_Guillermo_%26_Quercia%2C_Boris_-FILSA_20171110_fRF03.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Los cineastas y escritores mexicano, Guillermo Arriaga, y chileno, Boris Quercia, durante la presentación de la novela del primero, El salvaje, en la Feria Inte (2017)](https://film.one/media/person/96858/gallery-ab5d155de619.jpg) Los cineastas y escritores mexicano, Guillermo Arriaga, y chileno, Boris Quercia, durante la presentación de la novela del primero, El salvaje, en la Feria Inte (2017) — Rodrigo Fernández, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Arriaga%2C_Guillermo_%26_Quercia%2C_Boris_-FILSA_20171110_fRF04.jpg/1280px-Arriaga%2C_Guillermo_%26_Quercia%2C_Boris_-FILSA_20171110_fRF04.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Los cineastas y escritores mexicano, Guillermo Arriaga, y chileno, Boris Quercia, durante la presentación de la novela del primero, El salvaje, en la Feria Inte (2017)](https://film.one/media/person/96858/gallery-a6ac19748ca5.jpg) Los cineastas y escritores mexicano, Guillermo Arriaga, y chileno, Boris Quercia, durante la presentación de la novela del primero, El salvaje, en la Feria Inte (2017) — Rodrigo Fernández, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Arriaga%2C_Guillermo_%26_Quercia%2C_Boris_-FILSA_20171110_fRF05.jpg/1280px-Arriaga%2C_Guillermo_%26_Quercia%2C_Boris_-FILSA_20171110_fRF05.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Los cineastas y escritores mexicano, Guillermo Arriaga, y chileno, Boris Quercia, durante la presentación de la novela del primero, El salvaje, en la Feria Inte (2017)](https://film.one/media/person/96858/gallery-2b02c045bbb2.jpg) Los cineastas y escritores mexicano, Guillermo Arriaga, y chileno, Boris Quercia, durante la presentación de la novela del primero, El salvaje, en la Feria Inte (2017) — Rodrigo Fernández, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Arriaga%2C_Guillermo_%26_Quercia%2C_Boris_-FILSA_20171110_fRF06.jpg/1280px-Arriaga%2C_Guillermo_%26_Quercia%2C_Boris_-FILSA_20171110_fRF06.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 2007: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Babel*

### Other awards — 3 won

- Alfaguara Prize 2020: Alfaguara Prize (won)
- Premio Mazatlán de Literatura 2017: Premio Mazatlán de Literatura (won)
- Best Screenplay Award 2005: Best Screenplay Award (won), for *The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada*

*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/guillermo-arriaga