For detailed instructions on searching the database, from beginner to advanced levels, please try our IMDb University classes. If you're just looking for a few hints and tips, plus a list of available searches, you've come to the right place.

The easiest starting place for searches is our "Search the database for" box up at the top of the lefthand column on every page. If you're in a hurry, just drop in the name of the person, title, or character you're looking for and we'll try to find the best match for you.

If you're not sure of the spelling, take a little more time and specify whether it is a Person or a movie/TV title, etc. In the general "All" search, we take the path of least resistance and find the closest match out of the categories (i.e. one with any of the words in your search request). So if you misspelled "Mel Gibson" as "Meal Gibsen," you'll get some movie titles with the word "meal" in them.

When you specify the category, we go a step deeper. If there are no matches for words in your request, we'll actually look for words that are close to the ones you used. So while "Meal Gibsen" turns up some "meal" movies on the "All" search, it will turn up a link to our extensive collection information about Mel Gibson when you use the pull-down menu to specify that you're looking for a person.

When You Get Your Search Results

We'll keep going with the Mel Gibson example. Say you spelled his name right and used the "All" search. On the lefthand side of the page you'll see links to a variety of search forms... ignore those for now. We'll explain them in detail in the junior year of the University.

The important parts will be the results in the main section of the page and the "Other Searches" box in the upper right.

The results in the main section will be the closest matches to your search request in the categories that had good matches. Hopefully you'll be able to identify which is the right one... if there's more than one. In Mel's case, there's also a makeup guy named Mel Gibson. The makeup guy is known in our database as Mel Gibson (II). That doesn't mean he's Mel's son, i.e. Mel Junior, just that it's the second occurrence of Mel Gibson in the database and to keep from combining their credits, we give the less famous one a (II) added onto his name. Of course, in a case of 20+ John Smiths, this is not a hierarchy in order of fame, just that the most famous one gets to be (I) and not need a ([number]) at the end of his name.

You can click on Mel's name and go to our collection of data on him, but if you're really going for the complete experience, don't ignore that "more searches" box to the right.

The top four searches will offer you characters named Mel Gibson, any movie plot summaries that have the words "mel" and "gibson" in them, any biographical entries that mention Mel (such as the bio for Judy Davis, noting that she and Mel went to drama school together), and any quotes from other films where his name is in the quote... like a couple of quotes from Clueless.

If you've noticed, these searches pull up information that wouldn't come up in Mel's personal listing because they're related to other people or movies. If you click on "...more" at the bottom of the box, you'll find other similar searches, such as trivia entries for movies, movie goofs, etc. Essentially, we have a LOT of information about Mel based in his filmography (which comes up from the basic search), but by hunting around the various sections, like this you can find even more.

We hope you enjoy your travels within our web site. Below you'll find a list of other types of searches and informational links to help you find what you're seeking at the IMDb.

Index of Searches

A

Academy awards: by year.
Alternate versions: word search.
Awards: browse by letter.

B

Biographies: word search.
Birthdays: today or by year
Box office: grosses.
Business: word search.

C

Characters: name search.
Color: menu or free form.
Common: people common to two or more titles.
Countries of origin: browse or search.
Crazy credits: word search.

D

Dates: events from movie history.
Deaths: today or by year
Distributors: menu or free form.
DVD: word search.

F

Filmography: detailed filmographies.
Future movies: in production or upcoming.

G

Genres: menu or free form.
Goofs: word search.

L

Language: browse or search.
LaserDisc: word search.
Literature: word search.
Locations: menu or free form.

M

Marriages: today or by year or browse
Merchandise: where to buy.
Meta search: search for IMDb features and services.
Miscellaneous companies: menu or free form.
Multimedia: multimedia kits.

N

Names: filmography search.

P

Plot summaries: word search.
Posters: browse by letter.
Production companies: menu or free form.

Q

Quotes: word search.

R

Rating certificates: menu or free form.
Recent releases: on a country-by-country basis or search.

S

Search: main search page.
Sound mix: menu or free form.
Soundtracks: search.
Songs: word search.
Special effects: menu or free form.

T

Technical info: word search.
Titles: movie or TV title.
Trivia: word search.
TV: schedules for the USA.

V

Video: how to buy and/or sell.
Votes: average vote in our poll.

W

Word search: index.

Y

Year: titles made in a particular year... menu or free form