--- name: "Jared Hess" canonical: "https://film.one/person/jared-hess" fi1m_id: "jared-hess" imdb_id: "nm0381478" tmdb_id: 53925 wikidata_id: "Q2480656" roles: ["Director"] born: "18 July 1979" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 63 average_as: "director" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-17T16:42:54.268174+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." --- # Jared Hess ## Identity Jared Hess - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/jared-hess - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** jared-hess - **IMDb ID:** nm0381478 - **TMDB ID:** 53925 - **Wikidata ID:** Q2480656 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Hess, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2480656, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0381478/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/53925 Director. Born 18 July 1979 in Preston, Idaho, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Director - **Born:** 18 July 1979, Preston, Idaho, USA - **Active:** 2004–present - **Also known as:** Jared Lawrence Hess, 杰瑞德·赫斯, جارد هيس - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination - **Average Fi1m score:** 63, as director, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 74 (1), 2020s 52 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Hess, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2480656, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0381478/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/53925 ## Coming up - *A Minecraft Movie Squared* (2027-07-22), Director ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Napoleon Dynamite*](https://film.one/film/napoleon-dynamite.md) (74) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Jared Hess > Jared Hess has a good eye for awkward men with unreasonable confidence. We value that oddness, but his Minecraft film shows how easily his humour gets crowded out when a film has too much else to organise. In his Minecraft film (2025), Jason Momoa's Garrett runs a failing games shop and has not got over being an arcade champion. That gap between his present circumstances and his opinion of himself is familiar territory for Jared Hess. His comedies keep returning to men with considerably more confidence than reason. We laughed at Garrett because Momoa makes that misplaced confidence funny without much help from the dialogue. These are the moments when Hess seems the right director for the job; elsewhere, this uneven film gives us ample reason to doubt it. *Napoleon Dynamite* (2004), his feature debut, established the deadpan approach, with Jerusha Hess sharing the writing. *Nacho Libre* (2006) continued his interest in men whose confidence exceeds any reasonable justification for it. His work with Jerusha continued on *Gentlemen Broncos* (2009), which takes up fantasy and authorship. Her recurring contribution matters when discussing what can seem such a personal comic voice. The mixed response to later films, including *Gentlemen Broncos*, also identifies a persistent risk: awkward behaviour can become repetitive, however affectionately it is presented. Later came *Masterminds* (2016) and the co-directed animated film *Thelma the Unicorn* (2024), before the game adaptation set a different task. Here Hess had to supply a story for a game that did not have one. Five writers receive screenplay credits and three receive story credits; the solution is a familiar portal adventure. Jack Black, who also worked with Hess on *Nacho Libre*, plays Steve, building and shouting in the Overworld. The noisy fantasy gives Hess less room for his particular humour than the Idaho scenes do. His recurring interest in creativity and play makes him a sensible choice for this material, which makes the result more disappointing. A game about building whatever one likes has become an adventure that allows little such freedom. The Overworld's blocks give it a look, but the shop and school corridor give Hess something recognisably his to work with. We would approach another large Hess assignment with caution, and rather more interest in its awkward people than its machinery. ## Biography Jared Hess is an American film director, writer and producer. He is known for directing *Napoleon Dynamite* (2004), *Nacho Libre* (2006) and *Gentlemen Broncos* (2009), which he co-wrote with his wife Jerusha Hess. Hess directed *A Minecraft Movie* (2025). He has also directed *Thelma the Unicorn* (2024) and episodes of the television miniseries *Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators* (2023). He is based in Utah. *Sources: imdb.com, irishtimes.com, deseret.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *A Minecraft Movie* (2025), Fi1m 52, as General Chungus (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/a-minecraft-movie.md) - *Napoleon Dynamite* (2004), Fi1m 74, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/napoleon-dynamite.md) ## Complete filmography (30) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *A Minecraft Movie Squared* (2027), Director, Screenplay - *Standout: The Ben Kjar Story* (2026), Producer - *A Minecraft Movie* (2025), as General Chungus (voice) · Director — Fi1m 52, [page](https://film.one/film/a-minecraft-movie.md) - *The Gutter* (2024), Executive Producer - *Thelma the Unicorn* (2024), as Gerald (voice) · Screenplay, Director - *Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators* (2023), series, Executive Producer, Director - *Ninety-Five Senses* (2022), Director - *Murder Among the Mormons* (2021), series, Executive Producer, Director, Creator - *The Righteous Gemstones* (2019), series, Consulting Producer - *The Unexpected Race* (2018), as Deputy · Producer - *The Insufferable Groo* (2018), Producer - *Making History* (2017), series, Director - *Tim Timmerman: Hope of America* (2017), Thanks - *Masterminds* (2016), Director - *Son of Zorn* (2016), series, Director - *Don Verdean* (2015), Writer, Director, Producer - *The Last Man on Earth* (2015), series, Director - *Austenland* (2013), Associate Producer - *Napoleon Dynamite* (2012), series, Creator - *Gentlemen Broncos* (2009), Director, Writer, Executive Producer - *Nacho Libre* (2006), Director, Writer - *On Location Napoleon Dynamite* (2006), Director - *Napoleon Dynamite* (2004), Screenplay, Director — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/napoleon-dynamite.md) - *Winner Take Steve* (2004), Director - *Pride and Prejudice* (2003), as Reverend Steve Two-Trees Green - *The R.M.* (2003), as LD3 Nerd - *Peluca* (2003), Cinematography, Writer, Director - *The Singles Ward* (2002), as DJ V'dob - *Cardboard Only* (2001), Director - *Micronations*, Director ## Gallery - ![Jared Hess](https://film.one/media/person/8626/gallery-a8343b7e3dd4.jpg) Jared Hess — The Accent from USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Jared_Hess_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Jared Hess](https://film.one/media/person/8626/gallery-60c34238fbbd.jpg) Jared Hess — Image via TMDB - ![Jared Hess](https://film.one/media/person/8626/gallery-8bbc80253cff.jpg) Jared Hess — Image via TMDB - ![Jared Hess](https://film.one/media/person/8626/gallery-e5dcfe99c673.jpg) Jared Hess — Image via TMDB - ![Jared Hess](https://film.one/media/person/8626/gallery-f64606f4b393.jpg) Jared Hess — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - 2024: Best Animated Short Film (nominated), for *Ninety-Five Senses* *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/jared-hess