Best known for making movies in the splatter genre, Eli Roth is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He got interested in acting and filmmaking after watching Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror classic, Alien (1979). Roth and his brother shot and acted in 100's of short films before finishing school and pursuing a career in filmmaking at the New York University. Later on Roth moved to Los Angeles to realise his dream of making movies. He met actress Camryn Manheim, who was working in the popular TV show, The Practice (1997-2004). Roth used to stay in the dressing room as an extra and worked on the show's script, while Manheim was shooting. Meanwhile, Roth made his acting debut with romantic comedy movie, The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). He also had a cameo in Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). Both the roles were uncredited, making Snapshots from a 500 Season (1997) his debut movie with a credited role. Over the years Roth has acted in movies like Terror Firmer (1999), Cabin Fever (2002), Southland Tales (2006), Grindhouse (2007), Death Proof (2007), Rock of Ages (2012), The Man with the Iron Fists (2012), and Clown (2014). But Roth is perhaps best known for playing violent Bostonian soldier Donny ''The Bear Jew'' Donowitz in the 2009 Quentin Tarantino war film Inglourious Basterds.

Roth made his directorial debut with the animated show, Chowdaheads (1999), which never aired. In 2001 Roth directed the horror movie, Cabin Fever. The movie was based on a script he had co-written in 1996 with college roommate, Randy Pearlstein. Made on a budget of $1.5 million, the movie went on to earn $22 million at the U.S. box office and $35 million worldwide. Roth became an overnight star in the horror genre. In 2004 Quentin Tarantino called Cabin Fever his favorite new film and Roth ''the future of horror.'' Roth next directed the torture-horror movie, Hostel (2005). The movie was a worldwide hit, grossing $80.6 million on a budget of $4.8 million. In 2007 Roth directed ''Thanksgiving'', a fake trailer segment in Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's action-horror double feature, Grindhouse. In 2007 Roth directed a sequel to Hostel, Hostel: Part II. He returned to the directors seat in 2013 with the cannibal horror movie, The Green Inferno. In 2015 Roth cast his wife Lorenza Izzo and Cuban actress Ana de Armas opposite Keanu Reeves in the erotic thriller, Knock Knock. The Green Inferno and Knock Knock, both barely managed to recover their production costs. In 2015, Roth took a break from movies to direct the pilot of the WE tv horror series, South of Hell (2015). Earlier he had directed the pilot of another popular horror series, Hemlock Grove (2013-2015), which aired on Netflix. Roth is one of the filmmakers dubbed the Splat Pack by journalists for their violent horror films, made on a shoestring budget.

In 2018 Roth directed Bruce Willis, Vincent D'Onofrio, Elisabeth Shue, Dean Norris, and Kimberly Elise in the vigilante thriller, Death Wish. The movie is a remake of the 1974 Michael Winner movie of the same name, with Charles Bronson in the lead. Both the movies are based on the 1972 novel of the same by Brian Garfield. Beau Knapp plays the main antagonist, opposite Bruce Willis in the revenge-drama. In the second half of 2018, Roth will adapt John Bellairs' fantasy gothic-horror book, The House with a Clock in Its Walls into a movie of the same name.