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Jim Sheridan

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This article is about the film director Jim Sheridan. For other people, see James Sheridan.

Jim Sheridan
Born (1949-02-06) 6 February 1949 (age 75)
Dublin, Ireland
Other namesShay
Occupations
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
  • producer
  • playwright
Years active1979–present
Known for

Jim Sheridan (born 6 February 1949) is an Irish playwright and filmmaker. Between 1989 and 1993, Sheridan directed three critically acclaimed films set in Ireland, My Left Foot (1989), The Field (1990), and In the Name of the Father (1993), and later directed the films The Boxer (1997), In America (2003), and Brothers (2009). Sheridan has received six Academy Award nominations for his work.[1]

Life and career

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Jim Sheridan was born in Dublin on 6 February 1949.[2] He is the brother of playwright Peter Sheridan.[2] The family ran a lodging house, while Anna Sheridan worked at a hotel and Peter Sheridan Snr was a railway clerk with CIÉ.[3] Sheridan's early education was at a Christian Brothers school. In 1969 he attended University College Dublin to study English and History. In 1972, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He became involved in student theatre there, where he met Neil Jordan, who also was later to become an important Irish film director. After graduating from UCD in 1972, Sheridan and his brother began writing and staging plays, and in the late 1970s began working with the Project Theatre Company.[4]

In 1981, Sheridan emigrated to Canada, but eventually settled in the Hell's Kitchen section of New York City in the United States. He enrolled in the New York University Tisch School of the Arts and became the artistic director of the Irish Arts Center.[5]

Sheridan returned to Ireland in the late 1980s. In 1989, he directed My Left Foot (with Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker), which became a critical and commercial success and won Day-Lewis and Fricker Academy Awards. He followed that with The Field (with Richard Harris) in 1990; then with In the Name of the Father in 1993, a fictionalised re-telling of the case of the Guildford Four. The film won the Golden Bear at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival.[6]

In 1996 he co-wrote Some Mother's Son with Terry George. The Boxer was nominated for a Golden Globe for best film drama in 1997. The film was Sheridan's third collaboration with Day-Lewis after My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father, making him the only director to work with Day-Lewis on three films. In 2003, he released the semi-autobiographical In America, which tells the story of a family of Irish immigrants trying to succeed in New York. The film received positive reviews and earned Samantha Morton and Djimon Hounsou Academy Award nominations. In 2005 he released Get Rich or Die Tryin', a film starring rap star 50 Cent.

Sheridan directed the 2009 film Brothers, starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman, which was shot in New Mexico. He also directed the thriller Dream House,[7] which starred Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, and Rachel Weisz.[8]

Discussion with Jim Sheridan at Summer Film School (CR) in 2022
Discussion with Jim Sheridan at Summer Film School (CR) in 2022

Filmography

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Films

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Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
1989 My Left Foot Yes Yes No
1990 The Field Yes Yes No
1992 Into the West No Yes No
1993 In the Name of the Father Yes Yes Yes
1996 Some Mother's Son No Yes Yes
1997 The Boxer Yes Yes Yes
1999 Agnes Browne No No Yes
2002 In America Yes Yes Yes
2005 Get Rich or Die Tryin' Yes No Yes
2009 Brothers Yes No No
2011 Dream House Yes No No
2016 The Secret Scripture Yes Yes Yes
2017 11th Hour Yes Yes No Short film
2024 Re-Creation Yes No Yes [9]

Executive producer

  • Borstal Boy (2000)
  • On the Edge (2001)
  • Bloody Sunday (2002)
  • Where's Daddy! (2006) (Short film)
  • Dollhouse (2012)
  • Omar Sharif's Tribute (2015) (Documentary)
  • Shelter Me: Apollo House (2018) (Documentary)
  • First Disco (2019) (Short film)

Acting credits

Title Year Role Notes
Words Upon the Window Pane 1994 Jonathan Swift / Dean Swift
The General 1998 CPAD Leader
The Bridge of San Luis Rey 2004 The King of Spain
The Carpenter and His Clumsy Wife Narrator (voice) Short film
What If 2006 Himself
Hannah Cohen's Holy Communion 2012 Father O'Brien
The Family Way 2017 Eugene

Television series

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Title Year Credited as Notes
Thursday Play Date 1979 Writer and actor Episode "Mobile Homes"
Inside Apollo House 2017 Executive producer Documentary
Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie 2021 Director and executive producer
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba 2022 Director

Music video

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Awards and nominations

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Academy Awards

  • Best Adapted Screenplay – My Left Foot (1990), nomination (as co-writer)
  • Best Director – My Left Foot (1990), nomination (as director)
  • Best Adapted Screenplay – In the Name of the Father (1994), nomination (as co-writer)
  • Best Director – In the Name of the Father (1994), nomination (as director)
  • Best Picture – In the Name of the Father (1994), nomination (as producer)
  • Best Original Screenplay – In America (2004), nomination (as co-writer)

Berlin International Film Festival

British Academy Film Awards

  • Best Adapted Screenplay – My Left Foot (1990), nomination (as co-writer)
  • Best Adapted Screenplay – In the Name of the Father (1993), nomination (as co-writer)

European Film Awards

  • European Director of the Year – My Left Foot (1989), nomination

Golden Globe Awards

  • Best Director – The Boxer (1997), nomination
  • Best Screenplay – In America (2002), nomination (as co-writer)

Gregory Peck Award

  • Lifetime Achievement - Dingle International Film Festival (2009)[11]

Independent Spirit Awards

  • Best Director – In America (2002), nomination
  • Best Director - Brothers (2009), winner
  • Lifetime Achievement Award - (2015), Winner
  • Best Director - The Secret Scripture (2016), nomination

National Board of Review

  • Best Original Screenplay – In America (2002), winner (as co-writer)

Writers Guild of America

  • Best Original Screenplay – In America (2002), nomination (as co-writer)

References

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  1. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Coach Carter" Archived 22 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine, RogerEbert.com, 14 January 2005. Retrieved on 20 August 2006.
  2. ^ a b "Jim Sheridan Biography (1949-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  3. ^ Brady, Tara (9 May 2015). "Jim Sheridan: 'Cinema is kill, kill, kill'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Irish Film Archive". Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  5. ^ "Jim Sheridan Milestones". TCM Archive Materials. Archived from the original on 20 October 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Berlinale: 1994 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  7. ^ "Naomi Watts Takes Residence in Murdered Family's 'Dream House'". Bloody Disgusting. 23 January 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  8. ^ "Rachel Weisz Fills Uni's 'Dream House' Cast". Bloody Disgusting. 9 February 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  9. ^ Kierans, John; Fitton, Daire (11 April 2024). "New film about Sophie Toscan du Plantier's murder to be styled after Hollywood classic 12 Angry Men". Cork Beo. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Berlinale: 1998 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  11. ^ "Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan to receive Gregory Peck Award". IrishCentral.com. 27 August 2009. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
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