Emanuele Crialese (Italian: [emanuˈɛːle kriaˈleːse]; born 27 May 1965) is an Italian screenwriter and film director. He is a native of Rome and studied filmmaking in New York City.

Emanuele Crialese was born on 26 July 1965 in Rome to Sicilian parents. He studied filmmaking at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, from where he graduated in 1995. During this time he made several short films including Heartless (1994). His first feature film, Once We Were Strangers (1997), was an Italian-American co-production, funded by a producer who had noticed Crialese during his apprenticeship in the United States.