Paolo Sorrentino (Italian: [ˈpaːolo sorrenˈtiːno]; born 31 May 1970; Naples) is an Italian film director, screenwriter and writer. He is considered one of the most outstanding filmmakers of contemporary Italian cinema. Known for visually expressive and complex dramas, he is often compared to Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni. He has received numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Cannes Film Festival prizes, four Venice Film Festival awards and four European Film Awards. In Italy he has been recognized with eight David di Donatello awards and six Nastro d'Argento awards.

Sorrentino made his directorial debut with the Italian comedy-drama One Man Up (2001), for which he received the Nastro d'Argento for Best New Director, followed by The Consequences of Love (2004), The Family Friend (2006) and This Must Be the Place (2011). The biographical drama Il Divo (2009) was awarded the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Critics praised his art drama The Great Beauty (2013), which won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This was followed by Youth (2015), Loro (2018) and The Hand of God (2021), the latter of which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. He is also known for his television work, having created and directed the HBO drama series The Young Pope (2016) and The New Pope (2019). He has worked with songwriters Antonello Venditti, Paloma Faith and Mark Kozelek and has written three books published in Italian.

He works with writers and producers including Francesca Cima and Nicola Giuliano, Toni Servillo and Luca Bigazzi. His films have starred Sabrina Ferilli, Michael Caine, Fanny Ardant, Harvey Keitel, Isabella Ferrari, Elena Sofia Ricci, Sean Penn, Riccardo Scamarcio, Jude Law, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Nanni Moretti, Filippo Scotti, Carlo Verdone, Antonio Albanese, Frank Langella and Jane Fonda.