Many directors have enjoyed appearing in their own films (some as unbilled or uncredited cameos, others as bit players, either in small walk-on roles or in major supporting roles). There are numerous on-screen appearances of directors who crossed over and took the route toward directing: actors who became directors (Ron Howard, Penny Marshall), actors who also direct (Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford), director-actor auteurs (Woody Allen, Spike Lee), and various other combinations. Herein is a small collection of the most famous appearances by directors on the front side of the camera, in films of their own making (in alphabetical order by film title).

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that
"The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films.

Peter Jackson appeared briefly in each of his trilogy's films:

The Fellowship of the Ring (2001): as drunken peasant Albert Dreary eating a carrot, and a citizen of Bree

The Two Towers (2002): as a Helm's Deep guard, costumed in chain mail as a Rohirrim Warrior, and throwing a gold-tipped spear to defend the gate

The Return of the King (2003): as the boatswain or pirate captain of a Corsair of Umbar ship

Jackson also made brief cameo appearances in Bad Taste (1987) as Derek/Robert, in Dead-Alive (1992) (aka Braindead) as the Undertaker's Assistant, in Heavenly Creatures (1994) as a panhandling Bum outside a theatre who was kissed by Juliet Hulme, and in The Frighteners (1996) as a Biker Man with Piercings

Martin Scorsese as the uncredited gunman Jimmy Shorts who shoots "Johnny Boy" (Robert DeNiro) and Charlie Cappa (Harvey Keitel) at the end of the film from the back seat of a car; to add another layer of meaning, he was also visible for a split instant in a "portrait" of Charlie in the opening home movies/main title credits sequence, and Scorsese also served as the interior voice of Charlie when he was kneeling and praying in church in one of the film's earlier scenes -- delivering the off-screen narrated line: "Lord, I'm not worthy to eat your flesh, not worthy to drink your blood."

Leonard Nimoy (in his directorial debut) reprised his role as a newly-regenerated Captain Spock, through the Genesis Effect after his katra (living soul) was restored from Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) in a ritualistic refusion ceremony called fal-tor-pan on the planet Vulcan; he began to remember his past in the film's finale as he stood face-to-face with old friend Admiral James Kirk (William Shatner), telling him: "Jim. Your name is Jim," to which Kirk replied simply: "Yes" as the film ended.

Nimoy also directed himself in a larger role as Spock in the blockbuster Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986).

Martin Scorsese portrayed a lunatic cab passenger, a scary-acting, mustached, middle-aged individual who insisted that Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) pull over to the curb, keep the meter running, and just sit. He was the agonized husband of a cheating wife who watched her scantily-clad silhouette in the lit second-story window of another man's apartment, and described a homicidal plan - a fantasy of murdering his adulterous wife and her black partner with a .44 Magnum.

Scorsese also has brief cameos in Raging Bull (1980) as a Barbizon stagehand, The King of Comedy (1983) as a TV Director, After Hours (1985) as a Club Berlin Searchlight Operator, The Color of Money (1986) as the opening voice-over Narrator, The Age of Innocence (1993) as a Photographer, Bringing Out the Dead (1999) as the Voice of a Dispatcher, and Gangs of New York (2002) as a Wealthy Homeowner.

Orson Welles had a bit role as a trial advocate named Hastler, who reprised the opening parable of "The Man and the Country" to Joseph K (Anthony Perkins) at the climactic moment of the film.