Taylor Sheridan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sheridan Taylor Gibler Jr. (1970-05-21)May 21, 1970 (age 55) |
| Alma mater | Texas State University (dropped out) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Sheridan Taylor Gibler Jr. (born May 21, 1970),[1][2][3] known professionally asTaylor Sheridan, is an American writer, producer, director, and actor. He is best known as the co-creator of the television seriesYellowstone and creator of its prequels1883 (2021) and1923 (2022).
Sheridan has written several films, including the screenplay forSicario (2015), for which he was nominated for theWriters Guild of America Award forBest Original Screenplay. He was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Original Screenplay forHell or High Water (2016), which was nominated for three otherOscars, includingBest Picture. Sheridan also wrote and directed the 2017neo-Western crime filmWind River and wrotethe 2018 sequel toSicario.
Sheridan got his start portraying Danny Boyd inVeronica Mars (2005–2007) as well as portrayingDavid Hale in theFX television seriesSons of Anarchy. He has since created several series forParamount+, including the crime thrillerMayor of Kingstown, and the crime dramaTulsa King, (which he co-writes withTerence Winter),[4] the espionage thrillerLioness and the dramaLandman.
In 2021, Sheridan was inducted into theTexas Cowboy Hall of Fame.[5] In 2024, Sheridan was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame.[6] He is an honorary graduate atTexas Christian University.[7]
Sheridan was born inChapel Hill, North Carolina.[8] Several news articles have reported that he grew up on a ranch inCranfills Gap, Texas, but he was raised inFort Worth, Texas, the son of a cardiologist.[8] His cowboy identity comes from his mother, who was originally fromWaco and loved visiting her grandparents' ranch in that area.[9] When Sheridan was eight years old, his mother insisted on buying a ranch in Cranfills Gap so that her children would "learn firsthand about the peaceful feeling of freedom in nature".[9] Sheridan learned how to be a cowboy during his family's frequent visits to the Cranfills Gap ranch when he was growing up in the late 1980s.[8] Meanwhile, he attended and graduated fromR. L. Paschal High School, where he was "the rare weekend wrangler who was also atheater kid".[9]
Sheridan attendedTexas State University as aTheater Arts major but dropped out after his junior year. He later moved toAustin, where he supported himself by mowing lawns and painting houses. While looking for jobs in a shopping mall, Sheridan met a talent scout, who offered him the chance to go toChicago and pursue an acting career. He later lived inNew York City andLos Angeles during his time as an actor.[10][11]
Sheridan began his career in acting, appearing in small films and in recurring roles in television series likeVeronica Mars,Walker, Texas Ranger and most notably, asDavid Hale inSons of Anarchy. He made the transition into screenwriting after he turned 40.[12] His first film as a screenwriter wasSicario, directed byDenis Villeneuve.[13] It revolves around Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), an FBI agent who is enlisted to a government task force to bring down the leader of a powerful and brutalMexican drug cartel.[14][15] It also starredJosh Brolin andBenicio del Toro. The film received critical acclaim, with a 92% approval rating onRotten Tomatoes,[16] and received anumber of nominations, including aWriters Guild of America Award nomination forBest Original Screenplay for Sheridan.[17][18]
Sheridan wroteComancheria afterSicario.Comancheria sold first but wasstuck in development for quite a few years, appearing on theBlack List in 2012. It was later retitledHell or High Water and was released in August 2016, starringJeff Bridges,Chris Pine andBen Foster, and again received critical acclaim.[19][20] For his screenplay, Sheridan received a large amount of awards attention, earningBAFTA,Golden Globe Award, andAcademy Award nominations.[21][22]
The low-budget horror filmVile is credited as Sheridan's first film, but he does not consider the film his directorial debut, stating in a 2017Rotten Tomatoes interview:
I would say this [Wind River] is my feature debut. A friend of mine raised – I don't know what he raised – 20 grand or something, and cast his buddies, and wrote this bad horror movie, that I told him not to direct. He was going to direct it and produce it, and he started and freaked out, and called and said, "Can you help me?" I said, "Yeah, I'll try."I kind of kept the ship pointed straight, and they went off and edited, and did what they did. I think it's generous to call me the director. I think he was try [sic] to say thank you, in some way. It was an excellent opportunity to point a camera and learn some lessons that actually benefited me onWind River.[23]
His second feature as director, and third as screenwriter,Wind River, starringJeremy Renner andElizabeth Olsen, premiered at theSundance Film Festival in January 2017. The film follows an FBI agent (Olsen) and a veteran game tracker (Renner) investigating a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation.The Weinstein Company had acquired the distribution rights during the 2016Cannes Film Festival,[24] but dropped the film prior to the Sundance premiere.[25] However, the company later finalized its deal to distribute it.[26]Wind River was widely released in the United States on August 18, 2017, following a brief limited release.[27] FollowingSicario andHell or High Water,Wind River is the third installment of Sheridan's trilogy of "the modern-day American frontier".[28]
On September 15, 2016,Deadline reported that Sheridan had been set bySony Pictures andEscape Artists to script the American remake of theMatthias Schoenaerts drama-thriller filmDisorder, a 2015 French film directed byAlice Winocour. Escape Artists' Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal,Steve Tisch and Tony Shaw were scheduled to produce the remake and David Beaubaire to oversee it for the studio.[29]James Mangold was going to direct.
In 2017, Sheridan created the television seriesYellowstone, starringKevin Costner, which aired onParamount Network for five seasons running beginning June 20, 2018.[30] Spinoffs include1883 and1923 on Paramount+.
Sheridan wrote the sequel toSicario, titledSicario: Day of the Soldado, which was directed byStefano Sollima and released in 2018.[31] More recently, his overall deal with ViacomCBS was renewed.[32]
In May 2019, it was announcedWarner Bros. Pictures andNew Line Cinema acquired distribution rights to the filmThose Who Wish Me Dead with Sheridan as director.[33] The film had a theatrical debut internationally in South Korea on May 5, 2021.[34] In the United States, it was released on May 14, 2021.[35]
Owing partly to the success of theYellowstone franchise, Sheridan expanded with the subsequent TV productionsTulsa King starringSylvester Stallone, which has been renewed through season 4, andLandman starringBilly Bob Thornton.[36][37]
On June 23, 2025, Paulynne, Inc., which owns and controls all of famed broadcasterPaul Harvey's intellectual property, sued Paramount Global in New York federal court. The company sued Paramount for using a 90 second audio clip fromThe Rest of the Story inLandman without permission. Paramount used a segment about rising gas prices from Harvey's 2009 "Gas Crisis" episode in the opening of the Season 1 finale. The lawsuit accused Paramount of failing to obtain permission to use the clip as well as editing the clip to change Harvey's viewpoint with regard to government fossil-fuel policies and his interest in alternative fuels.[38]
On June 5, 2025, it was announced thatNOLA King, a spin-off series ofTulsa King, was in the works at Paramount+. The series will be set inNew Orleans and will starSamuel L. Jackson in a similar role as the one Stallone plays inTulsa King. Jackson is expected to appear in the third season ofTulsa King, which is currently in production.[39]
On October 28, 2025, it was reported that Sheridan had signed a five-year overall deal withNBCUniversal, which will take affect after his current deals with Paramount expire in March 2026 for film, and 2028 for television. The deal was described as being a "coup" for the company, coming shortly afterSkydance Media completed its acquisition of Paramount; CEODavid Ellison had previously praised Sheridan as being a "singular genius", and had hoped that he would "call Paramount his home for as long as he wants to be telling stories."[40][41]
As an actor, Sheridan explained that the amount of expositional dialogue he read for television caused him to form an "allergy toexposition" in his writing. He has also said that he looks for "absurdly simple" plots to focus solely on character.[42] He has cited theCoen brothers,Cormac McCarthy, andLarry McMurtry as influential to his writing.[43]
Sheridan has been married to actress and modelNicole Muirbrook since 2013. The pair have a son.[44][45] They currently reside inWeatherford, Texas.[8]
In May 2021, a buyer group represented by Sheridan purchased the 350,000-acre6666 Ranch in west Texas.[46][47] In 2025, Sheridan boughtCattlemen's Steak House inFort Worth, Texas with two business partners.[48]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Vile | Yes | No | No |
| 2015 | Sicario | No | Yes | No |
| 2016 | Hell or High Water | No | Yes | No |
| 2017 | Wind River | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2018 | Sicario: Day of the Soldado | No | Yes | No |
| 2021 | Without Remorse | No | Yes | No |
| Those Who Wish Me Dead | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2023 | Finestkind | No | No | Yes |
| 2027 | F.A.S.T. | No | Yes | Yes |
| TBA | Call of Duty | No | Yes | Yes |
| Year | Title | Creator | Director | Writer | Executive producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–2023 | Yellowstone | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2021–2022 | 1883 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2021–present | Mayor of Kingstown | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2022–2025 | 1923 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| 2022–present | Tulsa King | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| 2023 | Lawmen: Bass Reeves | No | No | No | Yes |
| 2023–present | Lioness | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2024–present | Landman | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2026 | Y: Marshals | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| TBA | The Madison | Yes | TBA | Yes | Yes |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Her Costly Affair | Chris | Television film |
| 2003 | White Rush | Tug / Douglas | |
| 2016 | Hell or High Water | Cowboy | Cameo[49] |
| 2018 | 12 Strong | Brian |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Vernon | Episode: "War Zone" |
| 1997 | Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman | Corporal Winters | Episode: "A Matter of Conscience" |
| 1999 | Party of Five | Counterguy | Episode: "Haunted" |
| 2000 | Time of Your Life | Connor | Episode: "The Time They Decided to Date" |
| 2001 | V.I.P. | Dave | Episode: "A.I. Highrise" |
| 2002 | Strong Medicine | Tucker | Episode: "Positive" |
| 2003 | The Guardian | Tim Dohanic | Episode: "Back in the Ring" |
| 10-8: Officers on Duty | Shooter | Episode: "Brothers in Arms" | |
| 2004 | Star Trek: Enterprise | Jareb | Episode: "Chosen Realm" |
| NYPD Blue | Tim Lewis | Episode: "Old Yeller" | |
| 2005 | CSI: NY | Joel Banks | Episode: "Supply & Demand" |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Evan Peters | Episode: "Secrets and Flies" | |
| 2005–2007 | Veronica Mars | Danny Boyd | 5 episodes |
| 2008–2010 | Sons of Anarchy | David Hale | 21 episodes |
| 2011 | NCIS: Los Angeles | Navy Captain Jennings | Episode: "Enemy Within" |
| 2018–2024 | Yellowstone | Travis Wheatley | 12 episodes |
| 2022 | 1883 | Charles Goodnight | 2 episodes |
| 2024 | Lioness | Cody Spears | 3 episodes |
