Award-winning director Quentin Tarantino is known for his blood-soaked action films full of charismatic personalities. So, what is the director of these infamous films personality actually like?
Quentin Tarantino’s personality type is largely assumed to be an ENFP personality type, also known as “The Campaigner.” An ENFP personality type is someone who has extraverted, intuitive, feeling, and prospecting personality traits.
The popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test (MBTI) website, 16Personalities, lists Quentin Tarantino among the Campaigners, alongside other notable celebrities such as Robin Williams and Robert Downey, Jr.
ENFP and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test is the most popular personality type test around, although there are potentially hundreds of personality types online, ranging from finding out which Harry Potter Hogwarts house you would be sorted into to finding out what type of flower you are.
Still, the MBTI test endures. It is commonly used in HR departments to learn more about employee’s strengths and weaknesses.
As for Quentin Tarantino, the MBTI website 16Personalities (as well as the fan website Personality Database) sorted him as an ENFP personality type, but what does that actually mean?
The ENFP personality type, or the Campaigner personality type, is someone with big ideas and lots of energy. They tend to be free spirits and are often the life of the party, enjoying making social connections with others.
However, just because they are outgoing does not mean that the Campaigner is insensitive; instead, they are incredibly intuitive and can read between social cues and lines. They are always looking for deeper meaning.
Although they love to be innovative and develop creative solutions, ENFP personality types can often become frustrated by the minutiae and paperwork they perceive as boring.
Don’t go assuming that you know everything about Quentin Tarantino just yet, though. Although MBTI tests argue that they are one of the most accurate personality type tests around and are ubiquitous with the phrase, many researchers have shared their doubts over the test’s accuracy.
USA Today quotes an Oxford professor who says that the tests were designed as its creators, “thought that would be very motivating for workers to believe the only purpose of the indicator was to match them to the best job that was suited for them.”
It satisfies the desire to learn more about oneself, but what does it actually reveal?
Vox quotes personality researcher Adam Grant as he says, “There’s just no evidence behind it. The characteristics measured by the test have almost no predictive power on how happy you’ll be in a situation, how you’ll perform at your job, or how happy you’ll be in your marriage.”
In fact, many people who are asked to take the MBTI test twice at different points in their life actually receive two different results!
Although these tests are fun, it’s perhaps best practice to take them with the same seriousness you would take a test to find out which cereal brand’s mascot you are. Still, they’re incredibly fun, and there’s no shame in wanting to learn more about yourself — or more about Quentin Tarantino.
Quentin Tarantino’s Personality
It does appear that Quentin Tarantino fits in well with the ENFP personality type, as he is known for his incredibly creative and detailed filmmaking process.
In this 2019 interview on The Howard Stern Show, Quentin Tarantino walks Howard Stern through his filmmaking process and how he handled his rise to fame throughout his career.
He’s incredibly confident in his creative abilities and passionate about the quality of his work. Quentin Tarantino is a film buff through and through, making films imbued with this love of cinema.
Quentin Tarantino seems to fit the ENFP personality, as he’s incredibly aware of the impact of each filmmaking decision he makes, be it dialogue or certain shots. Still, he likes to surprise even himself during his creative process, saying that he often starts to write a movie without knowing his own ending.
Although he’s made comments about retiring from filmmaking, Quentin Tarantino seems to enjoy the creative process too much to give up creating things entirely.
People Magazine reports that Quentin Tarantino has even thought about branching out into the writing industry, with two books in the works. One book is apparently a novelization of Tarantino’s 2019 movie, “Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood.”