M. Night Shyamalan, born Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan on August 6, 1970, in Mahé, India, and raised in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, is one of Hollywood's most distinctive and commercially successful filmmakers, renowned for his supernatural thrillers and trademark twist endings. With a global box office exceeding $3.3 billion, Shyamalan has carved a unique niche in cinema, earning both critical acclaim and audience fascination, though his career has been marked by dramatic highs and lows. He has received nominations for two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and a Golden Globe, solidifying his place as a major figure in modern filmmaking.

Shyamalan's journey began with his debut feature, Praying with Anger (1992), a semi-autobiographical film he wrote, directed, and starred in while still a student at New York University. He followed this with Wide Awake (1998), a comedy-drama about a boy searching for God, but it was his third film, The Sixth Sense (1999), that catapulted him to international stardom. The film, starring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment, became a cultural phenomenon, earning Shyamalan Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay and establishing his reputation for crafting emotionally resonant stories with shocking reveals. He quickly followed with Unbreakable (2000), a superhero origin story starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, and Signs (2002), an alien invasion thriller starring Mel Gibson, both of which were major box office successes. The Village (2004) continued his streak of high-concept thrillers, though it received a more mixed reception.

Following this initial run of hits, Shyamalan entered a difficult period with a string of critically panned films, including Lady in the Water (2006), The Happening (2008), The Last Airbender (2010), and After Earth (2013). These projects were widely derided for their convoluted plots and perceived directorial missteps, leading many to question his creative viability. However, Shyamalan staged a remarkable career resurgence with the low-budget horror film The Visit (2015), a found-footage thriller that restored his reputation for effective, character-driven scares. He then delivered Split (2016), a psychological thriller starring James McAvoy as a man with dissociative identity disorder, which was both a critical and commercial triumph. The film was later revealed to be a sequel to Unbreakable, leading to the trilogy's conclusion, Glass (2019), which brought together Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, and James McAvoy.

In the 2020s, Shyamalan continued to explore supernatural and suspenseful themes with Old (2021), a mystery about a beach that causes rapid aging, and Knock at the Cabin (2023), a tense home-invasion thriller based on a novel. His latest film, Trap (2024), starring Josh Hartnett, further cemented his return to form. Beyond his feature films, Shyamalan expanded into television, serving as an executive producer and occasional director of the sci-fi series Wayward Pines (2015–2016) and as the showrunner and executive producer of the Apple TV+ psychological horror series Servant (2019–2023), which he also helped create. Today, Shyamalan remains a singular voice in Hollywood, known for his unwavering commitment to original storytelling and his ability to polarize audiences while maintaining a devoted fan base.