Martin C. Scorsese (born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer (film producer), actor, and film historian. He is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation and a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema, and has won awards from the Oscars (Academy Award), Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Directors Guild of America. Scorsese is president of The Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation.

Scorseses body of work addresses such themes as Italian American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption (Salvation), machismo, and violence. Scorsese is widely considered to be one of the most significant and influential American filmmakers of his era, directing landmark films such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas ? all of which he collaborated on with actor and close friend Robert De Niro (Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro). He won the Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed and earned an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in film directing from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts (Tisch School of the Arts).

In 2007, Scorsese was honored by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) at the nonprofits 32nd Anniversary Gala. During the ceremony, Scorsese helped launch NIAFs Jack Valenti Institute, which provides support to Italian American film students, in memory of former Foundation Board Member and past president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Jack Valenti. Scorsese received his award from Mary Margaret Valenti, Jacks widow. Certain of Scorseses film related material and personal papers are contained in the Wesleyan University Cinema Archives to which scholars and media experts from around the world may have full access.