John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction. He is the director of The Thing. He also did a cameo voice over role in it's 2002 video game sequel as the character Shaun Faraday.