---
name: "Dan Kwan"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/daniel-kwan"
roles: ["Director","Producer","Writer"]
born: "10 February 1988"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T11:44:57.360478+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."
---

# Dan Kwan

Director and producer. Born 10 February 1988 in Westborough, Massachusetts, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer, Writer
- **Born:** 10 February 1988, Westborough, Massachusetts, USA
- **Active:** 2016–present
- **Also known as:** Daniel Kwan, 다니엘 콴, 关家永, Daniels, The Daniels
- **Frequently works with:** [Jonathan Wang](https://film.one/person/jonathan-wang.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 3 Oscars (3 won)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kwan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28746830, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3453283/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1383612

## Coming up

- *The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist* (2026-03-27), Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-ai-doc-or-how-i-became-an-apocaloptimist.md)
- *Untitled Daniels Event Film* (2027-11-18), Director

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*Swiss Army Man*](https://film.one/film/swiss-army-man.md) (75)

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

## Fi1m on Dan Kwan

> Daniel Kwan, working with Daniel Scheinert, finds tenderness in bodily embarrassment. We like their willingness to take a ridiculous premise seriously, though *Swiss Army Man* shows how readily the explanations can go on too long.

A flatulent corpse is useful company in *Swiss Army Man* (2016), and Daniel Kwan is prepared to take that company seriously. Writing and directing with Daniel Scheinert, he turns an absurd survival comedy into a friendship between a man and a corpse. The bodily embarrassment gives them something to explore beyond the next joke: what their characters might find worth loving in themselves. We rate the film for that tenderness, with a reservation about how much explaining comes with it.

The partnership began with shorts in 2009 and music videos from 2010, before *Swiss Army Man* became their feature debut. The body-based humour was already there in the music video *Turn Down for What* (2014). Practical effects recur in their work, alongside the physical jokes. *Everything Everywhere All at Once* (2022) moves to alternate selves and a multiverse, with regret and connection among its concerns. The premise grows larger, but the interest in people struggling to live with themselves remains recognisable.

This is shared work, and there is little value in pretending we can assign each joke or tender moment to one Daniel. Cinematographer Larkin Seiple and production designer Jason Kisvarday are collaborators on both features. In *Swiss Army Man*, Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe give the strange premise something the writing cannot supply by itself: affection that feels convincing. We were moved by their friendship because the actors make the pair worth staying with, however ridiculous their circumstances.

The weakness is plainest in the conversations. *Swiss Army Man* repeatedly explains feelings Dano and Radcliffe have already made clear, slowing a comedy whose bodily jokes otherwise give it purpose. Not every earnest exchange deserves the time it gets, and the good intentions do not make those stretches less tiring. The affection survives, but we would like Kwan and Scheinert to trust their performers enough to leave more unsaid. Start with *Swiss Army Man*, provided a useful corpse sounds like tolerable company for an evening.

## Biography

Daniel Kwan is an American filmmaker and one half of the directing duo known as Daniels, alongside Daniel Scheinert. He was born on 10 February 1988 in Westborough, Massachusetts. Kwan began his career directing music videos.

Kwan co-wrote and co-directed the feature films *Swiss Army Man* (2016) and *Everything Everywhere All at Once* (2022). He has also directed episodes of the series *Legion* (2017) and *Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens* (2020), and an episode of *Star Wars: Skeleton Crew* (2024). Kwan served as a producer on the documentary *The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist* (2026).

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

## On Fi1m (1)

### Directed (1) — the average rests on these

- *Swiss Army Man* (2016), Fi1m 75, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/swiss-army-man.md)

## Complete filmography (27)

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

- *Untitled Daniels Event Film* (2027), Director, Writer, Producer
- *The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist* (2026), Producer — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/film/the-ai-doc-or-how-i-became-an-apocaloptimist.md)
- *Star Wars: Skeleton Crew* (2024), series, Director
- *Almost Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Everything Everywhere All at Once* (2022), Thanks
- *Everything Everywhere All at Once* (2022), Writer, Producer, Director
- *Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia* (2020), Director, Writer
- *Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens* (2020), series, Director
- *On Becoming a God in Central Florida* (2019), series, Consulting Producer
- *Snowy Bing Bongs Across the North Star Combat Zone* (2017), Executive Producer
- *Legion* (2017), series, Director
- *Swiss Army Man* (2016), Director, Writer — Fi1m 75, [page](https://film.one/film/swiss-army-man.md)
- *The Pound Hole* (2015), Director
- *Interesting Ball* (2014), Daniel, Director, Writer, Editor
- *Possibilia* (2014), Writer, Director
- *Broomshakalaka* (2013), Director, Executive Producer
- *Pockets* (2012), Director, Writer
- *My Best Friend's Wedding/My Best Friend's Sweating* (2011), Writer, Director
- *Puppets* (2011), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Dogboarding* (2011), Writer, Director
- *Happy Holidays* (2010), Writer, Director
- *Your Boyfriend's Funeral* (2010), Writer, Director
- *Fast* (2010), Cinematography, Special Effects
- *Tides of the Heart* (2009), Writer, Director
- *Swingers* (2009), Jon Favreau, Writer, Director
- *Infomercials* (2009), series, Director
- *Balance* (2009), Boy, Director
- *Untitled Paul Dano Comedy Film*, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Daniel Kwan at the world premiere of Civil War at South by Southwest 2024](https://film.one/media/person/93270/gallery-1809f409334a.jpg) Daniel Kwan at the world premiere of Civil War at South by Southwest 2024 — Jay Dixit, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/2024-03-14_SXSW_Civil-War_09437_19.jpg/1280px-2024-03-14_SXSW_Civil-War_09437_19.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Dan Kwan](https://film.one/media/person/93270/gallery-c8c4b13cce34.jpg) Dan Kwan — Jay Dixit, edited by Fuzheado, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/2024-03-14_SXSW_Civil-War_09437_19_crop_Daniel_Kwan.jpg/1280px-2024-03-14_SXSW_Civil-War_09437_19_crop_Daniel_Kwan.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Daniel Kwan at the world premiere of Civil War at South by Southwest 2024](https://film.one/media/person/93270/gallery-a8e96c927570.jpg) Daniel Kwan at the world premiere of Civil War at South by Southwest 2024 — Jay Dixit, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/2024-03-14_SXSW_Civil-War_09509_22.jpg/1280px-2024-03-14_SXSW_Civil-War_09509_22.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Daniel Kwan at the world premiere of Civil War at South by Southwest 2024](https://film.one/media/person/93270/gallery-43c618650322.jpg) Daniel Kwan at the world premiere of Civil War at South by Southwest 2024 — Jay Dixit, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/2024-03-14_SXSW_Civil-War_09512_23.jpg/1280px-2024-03-14_SXSW_Civil-War_09512_23.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Dan Kwan](https://film.one/media/person/93270/gallery-f70f2e2d621e.jpg) Dan Kwan — Image via TMDB
- ![Dan Kwan](https://film.one/media/person/93270/gallery-7bbe408b4311.jpg) Dan Kwan — Image via TMDB
- ![Dan Kwan](https://film.one/media/person/93270/gallery-4db4cc13f2fd.jpg) Dan Kwan — Image via TMDB
- ![CalTV E: Swiss Army Man Interview with Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan](https://film.one/media/person/93270/gallery-e03561bd944f.jpg) CalTV E: Swiss Army Man Interview with Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan — CalTV, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Swiss_Army_Man_Interview_-_Daniel_Kwan.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Dan Kwan](https://film.one/media/person/93270/gallery-4eee4261e16e.jpg) Dan Kwan — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 3 won

- 2023: Best Picture (won), for *Everything Everywhere All at Once*
- 2023: Best Director (won), for *Everything Everywhere All at Once*
- 2023: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (won), for *Everything Everywhere All at Once*

### Golden Globes — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 2023: Best Director (nominated), for *Everything Everywhere All at Once*
- 2023: Best Screenplay (nominated), for *Everything Everywhere All at Once*

### Other awards — 1 won

- Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Director 2022: Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Director (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/daniel-kwan