Elia Kazan, (pronounced ē-LĒ-ä ka-ZAHN) (September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003), was a film and theatre director, film and theatrical producer, screenwriter, novelist and co-founder of the influential Actors Studio in New York in 1947. Kazan was a three-time Academy Award winner, a five-time Tony Award winner, a four-time Golden Globes winner, as well as a recipient of numerous awards and nominations in other prestigious festivals as the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival.

Kazan was born Elias Kazanjoglou (Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου in Greek) in the Anatolian city of the Kayseri, Turkey), (Turkey was the Ottoman Empire then), to an Ottoman-Greek family.

His family emigrated to the United States in 1913 and settled in New York City, where his father, George Kazanjoglu, became a rug merchant. Kazan's father expected that his son would go into the family business, but his mother, Athena (née Sismanoglou), encouraged Kazan to make his own decisions.