It is a Spanish film director, although born in Santiago, Chile, son of Chilean father and Spanish mother. He spent his adolescence in boarding schools Pious at Getafe. The entire film career has developed in Spain.

In September 2004 he spoke openly about his homosexuality in the journal Shangay. Among his film icons are Peter Sellers, Woody Allen and Ingmar Bergman, among others, although confesses openly loathe the work of some filmmakers patriotic, as Santiago Segura or Jaime Rosales, who qualifies for advenedizo and predictable.

Alejandro Amenábar has also been the target of negative criticism, as those who blamed the lack originality of their films. These parallels charged relevance as the director himself is identified with the image of a creator of amazing stories [citation needed].

He won an Oscar for best foreign language film in the 2004 film The Sea Inside.