Samuel Alexander ""Sam"" Mendes, CBE (born 1 August 1965) is an Inglis stage an film director. He is best kent for directin the comedy-drama film American Beauty (1999), which earned him the Academy Awaird an Gowden Globe Awaird for Best Director, the crime film Road to Perdition (2002), an the James Bond films Skyfall (2012) an Spectre (2015).