# Jim Sheridan

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.

## Life and career

Jim Sheridan was born in Dublin on 6 February 1949. He is the brother of playwright Peter Sheridan. The family ran a lodging house, while Anna Sheridan worked at a hotel and Peter Sheridan Snr was a railway clerk with CIÉ. 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.
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.
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.
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, which starred Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, and Rachel Weisz.

## Filmography
### Films

| 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 | |
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 | 2004 | Narrator (voice) | Short film |
| What If | 2006 | Himself | Short film |
| Hannah Cohen's Holy Communion | 2012 | Father O'Brien | Short film |
| The Family Way | 2017 | Eugene | Short film |

### Television series

| 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 | Documentary |
| Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba | 2022 | Director | Documentary |

### Music video

* "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart" by Sinéad O'Connor (1994)

## Awards and nominations

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
* 1994, Golden Bear – In the Name of the Father, winner
* 1998, Golden Bear – The Boxer, nomination
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)
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)
Awards and nominations received by Sheridan's features
| Year | Title | Academy Awards | Academy Awards | BAFTA Awards | BAFTA Awards | Golden Golden Awards | Golden Golden Awards |
| Year | Title | Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins |
| 1989 | My Left Foot | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | |
| 1990 | The Field | 1 | | 1 | | 1 | |
| 1993 | In the Name of the Father | 7 | | 2 | | 4 | |
| 1997 | The Boxer | | | | | 3 | |
| 2002 | In America | 3 | | | | 2 | |
| 2009 | Brothers | | | | | 2 | |
| Total | Total | 16 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 14 | |
Directed Academy Award Performances
| Year | Performer | Film | Result |
| Academy Award for Best Actor ||||
| 1990 | Daniel Day-Lewis | My Left Foot | Won |
| 1991 | Richard Harris | The Field | Nominated |
| 1994 | Daniel Day-Lewis | In the Name of the Father | Nominated |
| Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor ||||
| 1994 | Pete Postlethwaite | In the Name of the Father | Nominated |
| 2004 | Djimon Hounsou | In America | Nominated |
| Academy Award for Best Actress ||||
| 2004 | Samantha Morton | In America | Nominated |
| Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress ||||
| 1990 | Brenda Fricker | My Left Foot | Won |
| 1994 | Emma Thompson | In the Name of the Father | Nominated |