Kirsten Sheridan | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1976-07-14)14 July 1976 (age 49) Dublin, Ireland |
| Occupation(s) | Director, screenwriter, editor |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Children | 3 |
Kirsten Sheridan (born 14 July 1976) is an Irish film director and screenwriter. She is best known for co-writing the semi-autobiographical filmIn America with her father, directorJim Sheridan, and her sister, Naomi Sheridan, for which she was nominated for anAcademy Award forBest Original Screenplay[1] and aGolden Globe Award for andBest Screenplay.[2]
She is also known as the director of filmsDisco Pigs andAugust Rush.[3]
Born inDublin, Sheridan moved to New York City in 1981, spending her early childhood there while her father struggled to make it as an actor and theater director. Her family moved back to Ireland eight years later, whereupon her father found success as the director ofMy Left Foot,[4] in which Sheridan plays the younger sister of lead actorDaniel Day-Lewis.[5] She studied script writing atNew York University in 1993 and went to film school atUniversity College Dublin, ultimately earning her film degree fromDun Laoghaire College of Art and Design in 1998.
Her thesis short filmPatterns won several international film festival awards, including Clermont-Ferrand, Cork, Galway, Dresden, Aspen, and Chicago, and her next short,The Case of Majella McGinty, about a little girl who escapes her stressful life by crawling into a suitcase,[6] received festival awards at Foyle, Cork, San Francisco, Cologne, and Worldfest Houston.[7]
The first feature film Sheridan directed was 2001'sDisco Pigs,Enda Walsh's screen adaptation of his own play, starringCillian Murphy andElaine Cassidy[8] as teenagers in a lifelong, obsessive, antisocial friendship.[6]The Guardian described the independent film as a "stylised, hyperkinetic drama ... that combines kitchen-sink realism and vicious fight scenes with highly stylised fantasy sequences".[4]Disco Pigs earned Sheridan nominations for best director at theBritish Independent Film Awards and theIrish Film & TV Academy Awards, as well as prizes at the Castellinaria Youth Film Festival, the Giffoni Film Festival, the Young European Cinema Film Festival and the Ourense Film Festival.[7]
Next, Sheridan collaborated with her father Jim and sister Naomi on the script forIn America, a film based on their memories of their family's years of poverty in New York, with the story of the death of Jim's younger brother woven in as an added element.[6] Jim directed the film, which went on to success and earned several prestigious awards nominations,[9] including an Oscar nomination forBest Original Screenplay.[5] Sheridan's latest[when?] film is 2007'sAugust Rush, which starsJonathan Rhys Meyers andKeri Russell as star-crossed lovers and musicians,Freddie Highmore as their orphaned musical prodigy offspring, andRobin Williams as aFaginesque character.The Irish Times criticized the film as "bounc(ing) around between so many forms, moods and genres that it proves impossible to get a handle on,"[10] whileVariety called it "utterly predictable, but with moments of genuine charm."[11]
Sheridan directedDollhouse in 2010.[12] Filming took place over 21 days, and it was released in 2012.[12][13][14] Theunscripted story, featured a cast of young Irish actors, including then-unknownJack Reynor andSeána Kerslake.[15] The film was featured at the62ndBerlin International Film Festival and won the jury prize at the 2012Odesa International Film Festival.
Sheridan has won many awards for her short films.[7][9]
Sheridan was a Co-Executive Producer and a writer on the FX series ‘Say Nothing’ premiering on Hulu on November 14, 2024.
She was also an Executive Producer on the upcoming Sky/Peacock series ‘Lockerbie’, starring Colin Firth and premiering on January 2, 2025.
Sheridan has three children, sons Leo (born 2002), Séamus (born 2007) and Frankie (born 2010).[16]
Short film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Editor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | The Bench | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 1996 | Gentleman Caller | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| 1997 | Walking into Mirrors | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| 1998 | Patterns | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1999 | The Case of Majella McGinty | Yes | No | No | No |
Feature film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Disco Pigs | Yes | No |
| 2002 | In America | No | Yes |
| 2007 | August Rush | Yes | No |
| 2012 | Dollhouse | Yes | Yes |
Editor
Ref.:[17][13][18][3][19][20][21][22]
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Academy Award | Best Original Screenplay | In America | Nominated | shared withJim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan[1][5] |
| Golden Globe Award | Best Screenplay | Nominated | shared with Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan[2] | ||
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Best Writer | Won | shared with Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan[23] | ||
| 2003 | Irish Film and Television Awards | Best Director of a Feature Film | Disco Pigs | Nominated | [24] |
| 2002 | British Independent Film Awards | Douglas Hickox Award | Disco Pigs | Nominated | [25] |
| 2000 | Irish Film and Television Awards | Best Short Film | The Case of Majella McGinty | Nominated | shared with producers Siobhan Bourke and Kate Lennon |
| 1998 | Film Institute of Ireland | Young Irish Talent Award | Won | [7] |
