caption years_active home_town birth_place religion name notable_works spouse residence image article_title education citizenship occupation alma_mater
shyamalan at a press conference 1992 -- present philadelphia , pennsylvania , us mahé , india hinduism m. night shyamalan '' signs '' the sixth sense '' '' unbreakable '' '' bhavna vaswani -lrb- 1993 -- present -rrb- willistown , pennsylvania , us m. night shyamalan 2008 - still 40580 crop.jpg m. night shyamalan
 waldron mercy academy episcopal academy american film director , screenwriter , film producer , actor new york university
m. night shyamalan

manoj shyamalan -lrb- born 6 august 1970 -rrb- , known professionally as m. night shyamalan , is an indian-american film director , screenwriter , producer and occasional actor known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots .
his major films include the supernatural thriller `` the sixth sense '' -lrb- 1999 -rrb- , the superhero drama thriller `` unbreakable '' -lrb- 2000 -rrb- , the science fiction thriller `` signs '' -lrb- 2002 -rrb- , the psychological thriller `` the village '' -lrb- 2004 -rrb- , the fantasy thriller `` lady in the water '' -lrb- 2006 -rrb- , the natural horror thriller `` the happening '' -lrb- 2008 -rrb- , the fantasy adventure film `` the last airbender '' -lrb- 2010 -rrb- , the sci-fi action-adventure film `` after earth '' -lrb- 2013 -rrb- , and the horror comedy film `` the visit '' -lrb- 2015 -rrb- .
he is also known for filming and setting his films in and around philadelphia , pennsylvania , where he was raised , and for including plot twists in most of his works .
most of shyamalan 's commercially successful films were co-produced and released by the walt disney studios ' touchstone and hollywood film imprints .
in 2008 , shyamalan was awarded the padma shri by the government of india .
