After garnering initial recognition for the short film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011), he became best known for writing and directing Hereditary (2018), Midsommar (2019), and Beau Is Afraid (2023), all of which were released by A24.

Aster was born into a Jewish family in New York City on July 15, 1986, the son of a poet mother and jazz musician father.

[5][6][7] Aster originally aspired to become an author and became interested in filmmaking through screenwriting; although he would not begin actually making films until college, he had written six feature-length screenplays during his high school years.

The most notable project was the short psychological horror film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011), which follows the members of a suburban family in which the father finds himself trapped in an incestuous relationship with his abusive son.

[12] Aster made his feature-length directorial debut when he wrote and directed the supernatural horror film Hereditary (2018), which follows a family haunted by a mysterious presence after the death of their secretive grandmother.

[19] It follows a group of American university students who travel to Sweden for a festival that occurs once every 90 years and find themselves in the clutches of a cult claiming to practise paganism.

[23] In June 2019, Aster and Danish producer Lars Knudsen announced that they had launched a new production company called Square Peg.

[30] In August 2022, it was announced that Aster would reteam with A24 to produce Kristoffer Borgli's third feature film Dream Scenario, with Nicolas Cage attached to star.

[33][34][35] Aster wrote and directed the upcoming contemporary Western black comedy film Eddington (2025), which was co-produced by A24 and Square Peg.