---
name: "Abel Ferrara"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/abel-ferrara"
fi1m_id: "abel-ferrara"
imdb_id: "nm0001206"
tmdb_id: 39104
wikidata_id: "Q262608"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "19 July 1951"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_fi1m_score: 77
average_as: "director"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-26T01:52:04.894523+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Abel Ferrara

## Identity

Abel Ferrara

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/abel-ferrara
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** abel-ferrara
- **IMDb ID:** nm0001206
- **TMDB ID:** 39104
- **Wikidata ID:** Q262608
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Ferrara, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q262608, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001206/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/39104

Director. Born 19 July 1951 in The Bronx, New York, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 19 July 1951, The Bronx, New York, USA
- **Active:** 1984–present
- **Also known as:** Jimmy Laine, Абель Феррара, アベル・フェラーラ , 아벨 페라라, 에이블 페라라, 阿贝尔·费拉拉, Jimmy Boy L.
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 1 acting, 3 directing
- **Frequently works with:** [Mary Kane](https://film.one/person/mary-kane.md), [Victor Argo](https://film.one/person/victor-argo.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 77, as director, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 81 (1), 1990s 75 (2), 2020s 82 (1)
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Crime 3, Drama 2, Thriller 1
- **Screen time:** 3 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $5m across 2 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Ferrara, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q262608, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001206/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/39104

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Marty Supreme*](https://film.one/film/marty-supreme.md) (82)
- **Tubi:** [*Miami Vice*](https://film.one/tv/miami-vice.md) (81)
- **The Criterion Channel:** [*Bad Lieutenant*](https://film.one/film/bad-lieutenant.md) (80)
- **Apple TV:** [*King of New York*](https://film.one/film/king-of-new-york.md) (70)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Abel Ferrara

> Abel Ferrara keeps us close to violent men, even when we would rather leave. We value his feel for actors and grubby city streets; his insistence on redemption is harder to accept.

In *Bad Lieutenant* (1992), Harvey Keitel's policeman offers no reassurance simply by turning up to investigate a crime. Ferrara keeps us close to a man whose capacity for harm makes his badge little comfort. We found his distress painful to watch because Keitel makes it matter without making his cruelty any easier to excuse. This is Ferrara at his strongest, trusting an actor to make an appalling person worth our attention.

The route there ran through the urban violence of *The Driller Killer* (1979) and the revenge thriller *Ms .45* (1981), which both drew cult followings. Wider recognition came with *King of New York* (1990), with Christopher Walken, and *Bad Lieutenant*. The later European phase includes *Pasolini* (2014), starring Willem Dafoe, and *Tommaso* (2019). Dafoe, like Keitel and Walken, became a recurring collaborator, suggesting how much Ferrara values actors willing to look unhinged.

In *Bad Lieutenant*, cinematographer Ken Kelsch makes New York feel grubby and uncomfortably near. Production designer Charles M. Lagola supplies surroundings that look lived in and neglected, so there is no picturesque escape from the policeman. The difficulty comes with the screenplay, written by Ferrara and Zoë Lund, which keeps pressing the possibility of salvation. His anguish begins to seem a reason to set aside the harm he does, and the religious emphasis becomes overbearing. Keitel has already done enough to make us care; we do not need the extra pleading.

His own acting offers a smaller pleasure in Josh Safdie's *Marty Supreme* (2025), where he plays Ezra Mishkin. Safdie gives him little to play, relying on a face we believe on sight. It is casting rather than an opportunity to judge Ferrara's acting at any length. Start with *Bad Lieutenant* for the directing, but do not expect Keitel to make the company pleasant.

## Biography

Abel Ferrara is an American film director, screenwriter and actor. Born in the Bronx, New York, on 19 July 1951, he began making Super 8 films as a teenager and studied at Rockland Community College and SUNY Purchase. His feature debut was the low-budget horror *The Driller Killer* (1979), in which he also appeared under the pseudonym Jimmy Laine.

Ferrara is known for independent New York-set crime films such as *Ms .45* (1981), *King of New York* (1990), *Bad Lieutenant* (1992) and *The Funeral* (1996). He has directed episodes of the television series *Miami Vice* (1984) and worked extensively in Europe since the early 2000s. In 2025 he played Ezra Mishkin in *Marty Supreme*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (4)

### Performed in (1)

- *Marty Supreme* (2025), Fi1m 82, as Ezra Mishkin — [page](https://film.one/film/marty-supreme.md)

### Directed (3) — the average rests on these

- *Bad Lieutenant* (1992), Fi1m 80, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/bad-lieutenant.md)
- *King of New York* (1990), Fi1m 70, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/king-of-new-york.md)
- *Miami Vice* (1984), Fi1m 81, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/miami-vice.md)

## Complete filmography (72)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Cabaret Boys* (2026), Actor
- *Marty Supreme* (2025), as Ezra Mishkin — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/marty-supreme.md)
- *Judas' Gospel* (2025), as King Herodes
- *Turn in the Wound* (2024), Director
- *The Sweet East* (2023), Thanks
- *Padre Pio* (2022), Director, Writer
- *Soldato sotto la luna* (2022), as Anicio
- *Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages* (2022), Actor
- *Buon Lavoro* (2022), Actor
- *Zeros and Ones* (2021), Director, Screenplay
- *The Night Burns* (2021), as Abel
- *Bleedings* (2021), Actor
- *Sportin' Life* (2020), Director
- *Siberia* (2020), Screenplay, Director
- *Tommaso* (2020), Director, Screenplay
- *The App* (2019), Actor
- *The Projectionist* (2019), Director
- *Alive in France* (2018), Director, Original Music Composer
- *Talking with the Vampires* (2018), Director
- *Piazza Vittorio* (2017), Director
- *Black Butterfly* (2017), as Pat
- *Ultima Chiamata* (2017), Actor
- *Sculpt* (2016), Actor
- *Searching for Padre Pio* (2015), Director
- *Pasolini* (2014), Director, Idea
- *Welcome to New York* (2014), Director, Writer
- *Don Peyote* (2014), as Taxi Cab Driver, Manhattan Cab Driver
- *Home Sweet Home* (2012), Actor
- *4:44 Last Day on Earth* (2012), Writer, Director
- *Abel Ferrara in Lucca* (2012), Actor
- *Happy Life* (2011), Executive Producer
- *42 One Dream Rush* (2010), Director
- *Mulberry St.* (2010), Director
- *Daddy Longlegs* (2010), as Robber
- *Napoli, Napoli, Napoli* (2010), Director, Writer
- *Bandaged* (2009), Producer
- *Go Go Tales* (2008), Director, Screenplay
- *Chelsea on the Rocks* (2008), Director, Writer
- *Never Down* (2007), Thanks
- *Exes* (2006), as Caïn
- *Mylène Farmer : Music Videos IV* (2006), Director
- *Mary* (2005), Director, Story
- *Odyssey in Rome* (2005), Actor
- *White Boy* (2002), Producer
- *'R Xmas* (2001), Director, Screenplay
- *Mylene Farmer: Music Videos II & III* (2001), Director
- *New Rose Hotel* (1999), Director, Screenplay
- *Subway Stories* (1997), Director
- *The Blackout* (1997), Director, Screenplay, Songs
- *The Funeral* (1996), Director
- *The Addiction* (1995), Director
- *Dangerous Game* (1993), Director
- *Body Snatchers* (1993), Director
- *Bad Lieutenant* (1992), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/bad-lieutenant.md)
- *King of New York* (1990), Director — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/king-of-new-york.md)
- *Cat Chaser* (1989), Director
- *China Girl* (1987), Director
- *Crime Story* (1986), series, Director
- *Crime Story: Pilot* (1986), Director
- *The Gladiator* (1986), Director
- *Miami Vice* (1984), series, Director — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/miami-vice.md)
- *Fear City* (1984), Director
- *Ms .45* (1981), as First Rapist (as Jimmy Laine) · Director
- *The Driller Killer* (1979), as Reno Miller (as Jimmy Laine) · Director, Editor, Songs
- *9 Lives of a Wet Pussy* (1976), as Old Man (as Jimmy Laine) · Director, Editor
- *Could This Be Love* (1973), Writer, Director
- *The Hold Up* (1972), Director, Writer
- *Nicky's Film* (1971), as Man in junkyard · Director, Cinematography
- *American Nails*, Writer, Director
- *Embryo: Beyond the Door*, Actor
- *Siegfriedsdorf*, Actor
- *The Night Burns*, Actor

## Gallery

- ![Abel Ferrara](https://film.one/media/person/7478/gallery-f4ec5e894aaa.jpg) Abel Ferrara — Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Abel_Ferrara_Cannes_2017.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![American movie screenwriter and director Abel Ferrara. (2008)](https://film.one/media/person/7478/gallery-ac29ab60deeb.jpg) American movie screenwriter and director Abel Ferrara. (2008) — antje verena from Berlin / Tokyo, Japan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Abel_Ferrara.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Abel Ferrara, American screenwriter and director at 2010 International Film Festival "Capri, Hollywood".](https://film.one/media/person/7478/gallery-c7ea85ef3526.jpg) Abel Ferrara, American screenwriter and director at 2010 International Film Festival "Capri, Hollywood". — Sannita, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Abel_Ferrara_2010.jpg/1280px-Abel_Ferrara_2010.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Abel Ferrara in Sintra at Lisbon Film Festival 2017](https://film.one/media/person/7478/gallery-7c7ed9156413.jpg) Abel Ferrara in Sintra at Lisbon Film Festival 2017 — Ilya Mauter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Abel_Ferrara_in_Sintra_at_Lisbon_Film_Festival_2017.jpg/1280px-Abel_Ferrara_in_Sintra_at_Lisbon_Film_Festival_2017.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Abel Ferrara](https://film.one/media/person/7478/gallery-12d22d44b152.jpg) Abel Ferrara — Image via TMDB
- ![Abel Ferrara](https://film.one/media/person/7478/gallery-d42648b81d82.jpg) Abel Ferrara — Image via TMDB
- ![Abel Ferrara](https://film.one/media/person/7478/gallery-e9a6b1694223.jpg) Abel Ferrara — Image via TMDB
- ![Abel Ferrara](https://film.one/media/person/7478/gallery-7c369c9a0eef.jpg) Abel Ferrara — Image via TMDB
- ![Abel Ferrara](https://film.one/media/person/7478/gallery-b5ccbecb2969.jpg) Abel Ferrara — Image via TMDB
- ![Abel Ferrara](https://film.one/media/person/7478/gallery-ddae59a0754d.jpg) Abel Ferrara — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 1 won

- Time Machine Award 2008: Time Machine Award (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/abel-ferrara