---
name: "Jim Sheridan"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/jim-sheridan"
fi1m_id: "jim-sheridan"
imdb_id: "nm0006487"
tmdb_id: 53334
wikidata_id: "Q55429"
roles: ["Director","Producer","Writer"]
born: "6 February 1949"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_fi1m_score: 79
average_as: "director"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-10-23T04:07:47.999539+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."
---

# Jim Sheridan

## Identity

Jim Sheridan

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/jim-sheridan
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** jim-sheridan
- **IMDb ID:** nm0006487
- **TMDB ID:** 53334
- **Wikidata ID:** Q55429
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Sheridan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55429, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006487/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/53334

Director and producer. Born 6 February 1949 in Dublin, Ireland.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer, Writer
- **Born:** 6 February 1949, Dublin, Ireland
- **Active:** 1989–2009
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 3 directing, 1 producing
- **Frequently works with:** [Daniel Day-Lewis](https://film.one/person/daniel-day-lewis.md), [Terry George](https://film.one/person/terry-george.md)
- **Berlin International Film Festival:** 1 Berlin prize (1 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 79, as director, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 85 (1), 1990s 76 (2), 2000s 83 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 79 to 80 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Romance 1
- **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $97m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Sheridan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55429, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006487/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/53334

## Fi1m on Jim Sheridan

> Jim Sheridan makes family dramas in which affection need not make anyone easier to live with. We value his work with actors, especially Daniel Day-Lewis, though his determination to move us can become too obvious.

Gerry Conlon can be difficult company, and Jim Sheridan lets him stay that way. In *In the Name of the Father* (1993), Daniel Day-Lewis plays a son whose failings do not disappear simply because the story gives us reason to take his side. We were moved by the strain between Gerry and his father, played by Pete Postlethwaite, because Sheridan allows affection and resentment to coexist. That is where we most value him: directing actors who can make family loyalty feel difficult.

His first feature, *My Left Foot* (1989), began his collaboration with Day-Lewis. *The Field* (1990) explored land, tradition and obsession in rural Ireland, while *The Boxer* (1997) was the third Sheridan film to feature Day-Lewis. Families under strain recur through the work, against Irish history or the immigrant experience. Sheridan invites suggestions from actors and crew, an approach that makes sense alongside his tolerance for Gerry’s rough edges. We value the space he gives Day-Lewis to make an awkward man worth caring about without making him agreeable.

The writing is where our reservations begin. In *In the Name of the Father*, Sheridan and co-writer Terry George sometimes shape events too firmly towards the desired emotional response. We wanted more of the uncertainty that comes with people who do not fit neatly into a story. Yet Gerry remains a son with failings, and that stops the film becoming merely a demand for sympathy. Day-Lewis and Postlethwaite give us ample reason to feel something without being pushed.

*In America* (2003) carried those family concerns into a semi-autobiographical story of Irish immigrants in New York. The Hollywood projects that followed included *Get Rich or Die Tryin’* (2005), *Brothers* (2009) and *Dream House* (2011), and drew more mixed reviews than the earlier Irish films. We would not use that uneven reception as a reason to pass over the earlier work. Start with *In the Name of the Father* for Day-Lewis and Postlethwaite, and allow for a director who sometimes presses harder than he needs to.

## Biography

Jim Sheridan is an Irish film director, screenwriter and producer. Born in Dublin on 6 February 1949, he began in theatre, studying at University College Dublin and later at New York University, where he became artistic director of the Irish Arts Center. He returned to Ireland in the late 1980s.

Sheridan wrote and directed *My Left Foot* (1989) and *The Field* (1990). He wrote, directed and produced *In the Name of the Father* (1993), which received seven Academy Award nominations, including for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Subsequent films include *The Boxer* (1997), *In America* (2003) and *Brothers* (2009). He has received six Academy Award nominations in total.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, sdgi.ie.*

## On Fi1m (4)

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

- *The Boxer* (1997), Fi1m 68, Director, Writer, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-boxer.md)
- *In the Name of the Father* (1993), Fi1m 83, Screenplay, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/in-the-name-of-the-father.md)
- *My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown* (1989), Fi1m 85, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/my-left-foot-the-story-of-christy-brown.md)

### Produced (1)

- *Bloody Sunday* (2002), Fi1m 83, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/bloody-sunday.md)

## Complete filmography (40)

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

- *Re-Creation* (2025), as Juror 1 · Director, Writer, Executive Producer
- *Juliet & Romeo* (2025), as The Irishman
- *The Ghost* (2025), Executive Producer
- *Lockerbie: A Search for Truth* (2025), series, Executive Producer
- *One Last Show in Taghmon* (2025), Executive Producer
- *St Pancras Sunrise* (2024), Executive Producer
- *Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba* (2022), Director
- *The Letters* (2021), Thanks
- *Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie* (2021), series, Director, Writer
- *L'énigme : L'affaire Toscan du Plantier* (2021), series, Director, Creator
- *11th Hour* (2017), Writer, Director
- *The Secret Scripture* (2017), Writer, Producer, Director
- *Hannah Cohen's Holy Communion* (2012), as Father O'Brien
- *Dollhouse* (2012), Executive Producer
- *Dream House* (2011), Director
- *Brothers* (2009), Director
- *What If?* (2006), Actor
- *Get Rich or Die Tryin'* (2005), Producer, Director
- *The Bridge of San Luis Rey* (2004), as The King of Spain
- *The Carpenter and His Clumsy Wife* (2004), as Narrator (voice)
- *In America* (2003), Director, Producer, Writer
- *Bloody Sunday* (2002), Executive Producer — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/bloody-sunday.md)
- *On the Edge* (2001), Executive Producer
- *Borstal Boy* (2001), Executive Producer
- *Agnes Browne* (1999), Producer
- *The General* (1998), as CPAD Leader
- *The Boxer* (1997), Director, Writer, Producer — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/film/the-boxer.md)
- *This Is the Sea* (1997), as Station Master
- *Some Mother's Son* (1996), Writer, Producer
- *Moll Flanders* (1996), as le prêtre
- *Words Upon the Window Pane* (1994), as Jonathan Swift / Dean Swift
- *In the Name of the Father* (1993), Director, Producer, Screenplay — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/in-the-name-of-the-father.md)
- *Into the West* (1992), Screenplay
- *The Field* (1990), Director, Screenplay
- *My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown* (1989), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/my-left-foot-the-story-of-christy-brown.md)
- *Mobile Homes* (1979), as Shea · Writer
- *I Am a Man*, Writer, Producer, Director
- *King of the Wind*, Director, Screenplay
- *Into Africa and Out*, Director, Writer
- *Hiba*, Director

## Gallery

- ![Jim Sheridan](https://film.one/media/person/82687/gallery-ca0883300bdb.jpg) Jim Sheridan — Colman Huge at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Jim_Sheridan.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Maria Anastacia Keogh, Chris Tordoff, Eimear Lowe, Jim Sheridan (2011)](https://film.one/media/person/82687/gallery-28599eea6bd5.jpg) Maria Anastacia Keogh, Chris Tordoff, Eimear Lowe, Jim Sheridan (2011) — ArtisticLove, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Iftas_2011_Group_photo_1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Jim Sheridan, personal interview with Pavel Bednařík on August 1st, 2022, Summer Film School](https://film.one/media/person/82687/gallery-40c6c09b56c9.jpg) Jim Sheridan, personal interview with Pavel Bednařík on August 1st, 2022, Summer Film School — Pavel Bednařík (WMCZ), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Jim_Sheridan%2C_personal_interview_with_Pavel_Bedna%C5%99%C3%ADk.jpg/1280px-Jim_Sheridan%2C_personal_interview_with_Pavel_Bedna%C5%99%C3%ADk.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Jim Sheridan at Q&A at Summer Film School 2022](https://film.one/media/person/82687/gallery-f4e6d40a516a.jpg) Jim Sheridan at Q&A at Summer Film School 2022 — Pavel Bednařík (WMCZ), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Jim_Sheridan_at_Q%26A_at_Summer_Film_School_2022.jpg/1280px-Jim_Sheridan_at_Q%26A_at_Summer_Film_School_2022.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Jim Sheridan](https://film.one/media/person/82687/gallery-ae5ed4c48f50.jpg) Jim Sheridan — Image via TMDB
- ![Jim Sheridan appeared in the "First & Latest" section of the Amman International Film Festival (AIFF), where he reflected on his cinematic journey and evolu (2025)](https://film.one/media/person/82687/gallery-0cbdaf08f0b7.jpg) Jim Sheridan appeared in the "First & Latest" section of the Amman International Film Festival (AIFF), where he reflected on his cinematic journey and evolu (2025) — Francescamarialorenzini, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Jim_Sheridan_at_the_2025_Amman_International_Film_Festival_%28AIFF%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Jim Sheridan přebírá cenu AČFK na Letní filmové škole 2022](https://film.one/media/person/82687/gallery-0899fd93dc86.jpg) Jim Sheridan přebírá cenu AČFK na Letní filmové škole 2022 — Pavel Bednařík (WMCZ), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Jim_Sheridan_p%C5%99eb%C3%ADr%C3%A1_cenu_A%C4%8CFK_na_Letn%C3%AD_filmov%C3%A9_%C5%A1kole_2022.jpg/1280px-Jim_Sheridan_p%C5%99eb%C3%ADr%C3%A1_cenu_A%C4%8CFK_na_Letn%C3%AD_filmov%C3%A9_%C5%A1kole_2022.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 6 nominated

- 2004: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *In America*
- 1994: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *In the Name of the Father*
- 1994: Best Director (nominated), for *In the Name of the Father*
- 1994: Best Picture (nominated), for *In the Name of the Father*
- 1990: Best Director (nominated), for *My Left Foot*
- 1990: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *My Left Foot*

### Berlin International Film Festival — 1 won

- 1994: Golden Bear (won), for *In the Name of the Father*

### Other awards — 2 won, 3 nominated

- Annual award ACFK 2022: Annual award ACFK (won)
- Goya Award for Best European Film 1999: Goya Award for Best European Film (won), for *The Boxer*
- European Film Award for Best Film 1994: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *In the Name of the Father*
- European Film Award for Best Director 1989: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated), for *My Left Foot*
- Young European Film of the Year 1989: Young European Film of the Year (nominated), for *My Left Foot*

*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/jim-sheridan