Alfonso Cuarón Orozco (Spanish pronunciation: [alˈfonso kwaˈɾon]; born 28 November 1961) is a Mexican film director, screenwriter and film producer, best known for his films Children of Men, Y tu mamá también, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and A Little Princess.

Alfonso Cuarón was born in México City and is the son of Alfredo Cuarón, a nuclear physicist who worked for the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency for many years.

Cuarón studied Philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and filmmaking at CUEC (Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos), a faculty of the same University. There, he met director Carlos Marcovich and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, and they made what would be his first short film, Vengeance is mine. The controversy caused by the fact that the film was shot in English was the reason he was expelled from the film school.

Cuarón began working in television in Mexico, first as a technician and then as a director. His television work led to assignments as an assistant director for several Latin American film productions including Gaby: A True Story and Romero, and in 1991, he landed his first big-screen directorial assignment.