Joseph Kosinski

Biography:

Joseph Kosinski is an American filmmaker who was born on May 3, 1974. Tron: Legacy (2010), Oblivion (2013), Only the Brave (2017), Top Gun: Maverick, Spiderhead (all 2022), and Formula One (2025) are his most well-known directing credits. Prior to this, he worked mostly on computer graphics and computer-generated imagery (CGI) for television advertisements, such as the award-winning “Mad World” commercial for Gears of War and the “Starry Night” commercial for Halo 3.

Born in Marshalltown, Iowa, Kosinski was the son of Joel Kosinski, a Polish doctor, and Patricia (née Provost) of Skokie, Illinois. He attended Stanford University to study mechanical engineering and Columbia University to study architecture after graduating from Marshalltown High School in 1992.

After graduating in 1999 and teaching at Columbia, Kosinski and a classmate, Dean Di Simone, co-founded a design studio called KDLAB, where he directed commercials and created digital short films. After relocating to Los Angeles and getting to know David Fincher, Kosinski signed with Anonymous Content.