---
name: "Dominic Sena"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/dominic-sena"
fi1m_id: "dominic-sena"
imdb_id: "nm0784061"
tmdb_id: 58498
wikidata_id: "Q728362"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "26 April 1949"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-05T02:08:49.072571+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."
---

# Dominic Sena

## Identity

Dominic Sena

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/dominic-sena
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** dominic-sena
- **IMDb ID:** nm0784061
- **TMDB ID:** 58498
- **Wikidata ID:** Q728362
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Sena, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q728362, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0784061/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/58498

Director. Born 26 April 1949 in Niles, Ohio, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 26 April 1949, Niles, Ohio, USA
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Sena, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q728362, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0784061/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/58498

## Fi1m on Dominic Sena

> Dominic Sena has an eye for attractive machinery and a weakness for thin stories. His glossy action offers occasional pleasures, but we find too little urgency or character to recommend it with much confidence.

In *Gone in Sixty Seconds* (2000), the cars look desirable well before their theft becomes exciting. Sena spends much of the build-up relying on the appeal of the machinery and his cast, as though a caper needed little else. We were bored by the wait, because the thieves are too thinly drawn to make their difficulties matter. The stunts offer welcome relief, and we would not deny the simple pleasure of watching attractive cars put through their paces. But a film running 118 minutes needs to give us more reason to stay with it.

Sena came to features through camerawork, music videos and commercials, which helps explain his attention to a polished image. His debut, *Kalifornia* (1993), was a road thriller involving a serial killer, with Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis and David Duchovny. Its unsettling atmosphere and strong performances suggested possibilities beyond the later action work. *Gone in Sixty Seconds*, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, marked the move into mainstream action, where the elaborate set piece became a more conspicuous part of his work.

His collaborators include cinematographer Paul Cameron, with whom he has worked twice. The chase work in *Gone in Sixty Seconds* shows Sena can give an action sequence the speed it needs. What he cannot sustain there is the anticipation between those sequences: the sense that the next theft matters to someone we have got to know. An appealing cast can only do so much when the director gives the characters so little weight.

*Swordfish* (2001) continued towards elaborate spectacle, including a 360-degree explosion shot. The later *Whiteout* (2009) was an Antarctic thriller, while *Season of the Witch* (2011) took Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman into medieval action-horror. Those films attracted recurring complaints about weak plotting, uneven pacing and uncertain tone, familiar concerns after the sluggishness of *Gone in Sixty Seconds*. If cars are not already a substantial interest, there is little reason to spend an evening on *Gone in Sixty Seconds*.

## Biography

Dominic Sena is an American film director and music video director. Born on 26 April 1949 in Niles, Ohio, he began his career as a cameraman and director of music videos and commercials. He was a co-founder of Propaganda Films and directed videos for artists including Janet Jackson, for whose Rhythm Nation 1814 short film he won a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video.

Sena made his feature film debut with *Kalifornia* (1993). He is best known for directing the action films *Gone in 60 Seconds* (2000) and *Swordfish* (2001). His other feature credits include *Whiteout* (2009) and *Season of the Witch* (2011). He has been retired from directing since 2011.

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

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Gone in Sixty Seconds* (2000), Fi1m 40, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/gone-in-sixty-seconds.md)

## Complete filmography (9)

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

- *Season of the Witch* (2011), Director
- *Whiteout* (2009), Director
- *13 Graves* (2006), Director
- *Janet Jackson: From Janet. To Damita Jo: The Videos* (2004), Director
- *HBO First Look: Swordfish* (2001), Actor
- *Swordfish* (2001), Director
- *Gone in Sixty Seconds* (2000), Director — Fi1m 40, [page](https://film.one/film/gone-in-sixty-seconds.md)
- *Janet Jackson: janet.* (1994), Actor
- *Kalifornia* (1993), Director

---
© 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/dominic-sena