Widely regarded as one among the greatest contemporary filmmakers in Hollywood, award-winning American screenwriter, director and producer Ethan Coen is the younger half of the writer-director duo popularly known as the Coen Brothers.

Along with his elder brother Joel Coen, he has conceived some of the most iconic American films of the past three decades, and the celebrated duo has 14 Academy Award nominations and 4 wins between them. Coen made his film debut with the 1984 neo-noir crime film Blood Simple, which he co-wrote and co-produced with his brother. Though only a moderate box office success, Blood Simple received rave reviews from all quarters upon its release, and has since been featured in American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Thrills list. Though they continued to garner critical acclaim and award nominations through films like Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990) and Barton Fink (1991), it was the 1996 black comedy crime film Fargo that earned the Coens international acclaim. Fargo won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay that year, besides winning Joel Coen the top directorial award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Though both the brothers have helmed the writing and directorial departments of their films since the beginning of their career, certain Directors Guild of America stipulations prevented them from being credited as co-directors till 2003. Consequently, during the former half of their career, Joel received the directorial credits while Ethan took the production and writing credits. However, this changed in 2004 with the black comedy thriller The Ladykillers, where the Coens officially shared directorial credits for the first time. In 2007, Ethan co-wrote and co-directed the neo-western neo-noir thriller film No Country for Old Men, which went on to win 4 Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for the duo. The black comedy film Burn After Reading (2008), the western crime thriller True Grit (2010) and the black comedy-drama film Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) are some of Ethan Coen's recent directorial outings. Other notable film credits as a screenwriter include Gambit (2012), Unbroken (2014), Steven Spielberg's Cold War era historical drama legal thriller Bridge of Spies (2015) and Suburbicon (2017).