Elia Kazan was an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is best known for his films On the Waterfront (1954) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). He was nominated for 19 Academy Awards and won three. He also won four Tony Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. Kazan was born in Istanbul, Turkey and immigrated to the United States in 1923. He was a member of the Actors Studio and directed some of the most important films of the 1950s.