Joel Thomas Hynes
Hynes at the 2014 Cineplex Entertainment Film Program
Born	(1976-09-29)September 29, 1976 (age 49) Calvert,Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Occupation	Novelist screenwriter actor producer director
Years active	2000-present
Notable works	Down to the Dirt,Cast No Shadow
Children	Percy Hynes White

Joel Thomas Hynes (born September 29, 1976) is a Canadian writer, actor and director known for his dark characters and vision of modern underground Canada.

His 2017 novelWe'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night won theGovernor General's Award for English-language Fiction^[1] and theWinterset Award^[2] and was longlisted for theScotiabank Giller Prize.

He has released two albums -JTH Live at the LSPU Hall and 2018'sDead Man's Melody, a concept album that loosely follows the story of a doomed relationship that ends in murder and mayhem with the album's main character barricaded inside a house, unabashed, determined to go out in a hail of bullets. The album was produced in Toronto byEamon McGrath.

Hisdebut novelDown to the Dirt won thePercy Janes First Novel Award, was shortlisted for theAtlantic Book Award and theWinterset Award, and was longlisted for theInternational Dublin Literary Award^[3] and theReLit Award.^[4] The novel was subsequently adapted into the filmDown to the Dirt, in which Hynes also played the lead role.^[5] The unabridged audiobook edition ofDown to the Dirt narrated by Johnny Harris, Joel Thomas Hynes and Sherry White was recorded by Rattling Books in 2006.Down to the Dirt has been translated into numerous languages and adapted to stage.

The follow-up toDown to the Dirt was the gritty novelRight Away Monday, also available with HarperCollins Publishers.

Hynes is the creator, an executive producer and plays the lead role in the CBC comedy seriesLittle Dog, which follows burned out boxer Tommy "Little Dog" Ross on the rocky road to redemption after he makes a reluctant return to the ring after a long, shameful hiatus.

Hynes has performed numerous lead and leading roles for television, film, and theatre. His credits include the television seriesHatching, Matching and Dispatching (for which he was also a writer), as well as the filmsRabbittown,Crackie,The Con Artist,Messiah from Montreal,The Sparky Book,Ashore ,Hunting Pignut,A Christmas Fury, and many others.

Hynes's gothic novellaSay Nothing Saw Wood, inspired by a true story of a grisly murder that happened in his hometown in 1971, was adapted to the big screen under the titleCast No Shadow, and went on to receive numerous accolades on the festival circuit. Hynes was awarded the Michael Weir Award for best Atlantic Screenwriter at the Atlantic Film Festival and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. InCast No Shadow, Hynes plays opposite his real life sonPercy Hynes White. White won numerous accolades for his portrayal ofCast No Shadow's young, disturbed protagonist Jude Traynor, including the Rising Star Award at the Edmonton International Film Festival and the Best Actor Award at the Atlantic Film Festival.

Hynes was named Artist of the Year by theNewfoundland and Labrador Arts Council in 2008, has received the Lawrence Jackson Writer's Award, the Summerwork's Theatre Festival's Contra Guys Award, and also in 2008 won theCuffer Prize.^[6] He has also played recurring characters onRepublic of Doyle,Orphan Black,Mary Kills People, andFrontier.

Hynes currently divides his time between Newfoundland, Toronto, and California. He is the nephew of singer-songwriterRon Hynes.^[7]

• Down to the Dirt (2005)
• Right Away Monday (2007)
• Say Nothing Saw Wood (2013)
• We'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night (2017)

• Down to the Dirt (2006)

• The Devil You Don't Know (co-written withSherry White) (2011)
• Say Nothing Saw Wood (2009)
• Broken Accidents (2010)
• Incinerator Road (2011)

• God Help Thee: A Manifesto (2011)

• Straight Razor Days (2012)

• Messiah from Montreal (2001)
• Ashore (2002)
• The Bread Maker (2003)
• Down to the Dirt (2008)
• Crackie (2009)
• Grown Up Movie Star (2009)
• The Con Artist (2010)
• Cast No Shadow (2014)
• Relative Happiness (2015)
• First Round Down
• Hunting Pignut (2016)
• Goalie (2019)
• Body and Bones (2019)
• Wildhood (2021)
• A Small Fortune (2021)
• Blueberry Grunt (2025)

• Hatching, Matching and Dispatching (2005)
• Rabbittown (2006)
• ReGenesis (2008, one episode)
• Republic of Doyle (2013)
• The Book of Negroes (2015)
• Orphan Black (2016)
• Frontier (2017)
• Little Dog (2018)
• Trickster (2020)
• Hudson and Rex (2021)
• Sheriff Country (2025)

• Joel Thomas Hynes atIMDb

• 1976 births
• Living people
• 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
• 20th-century Canadian male actors
• 20th-century Canadian male writers
• 20th-century Canadian novelists
• 20th-century Canadian screenwriters
• 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
• 21st-century Canadian male actors
• 21st-century Canadian male writers
• 21st-century Canadian novelists
• 21st-century Canadian screenwriters
• Chapbook writers
• Canadian Film Centre alumni
• Canadian male dramatists and playwrights
• Canadian male film actors
• Canadian male novelists
• Canadian male screenwriters
• Canadian male stage actors
• Canadian male television actors
• Canadian male television writers
• Canadian television writers
• Governor General's Award–winning fiction writers
• Male actors from Newfoundland and Labrador
• People from Newfoundland (island)
• Film producers from Newfoundland and Labrador
• Screenwriters from Newfoundland and Labrador
• Novelists from Newfoundland and Labrador

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• Use mdy dates from November 2022