--- name: "John Francis Daley" canonical: "https://film.one/person/john-francis-daley" fi1m_id: "john-francis-daley" imdb_id: "nm0197855" tmdb_id: 52935 wikidata_id: "Q342636" roles: ["Writer","Director","Actor"] born: "20 July 1985" reviewed_on_fi1m: 5 average_fi1m_score: 62 average_as: "writer" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-24T04:31:51.674622+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." --- # John Francis Daley ## Identity John Francis Daley - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/john-francis-daley - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** john-francis-daley - **IMDb ID:** nm0197855 - **TMDB ID:** 52935 - **Wikidata ID:** Q342636 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Francis_Daley, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q342636, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0197855/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/52935 Writer and director. Born 20 July 1985 in Wheeling, Illinois, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Writer, Director, Actor - **Born:** 20 July 1985, Wheeling, Illinois, USA - **Active:** 1999–present - **Also known as:** John Daley - **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 2 acting, 1 directing, 2 writing - **Frequently works with:** [Jonathan Goldstein](https://film.one/person/jonathan-goldstein.md) - **Average Fi1m score:** 62, as writer, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 88 (1), 2000s 70 (1), 2010s 74 (1), 2020s 62 (2) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Francis_Daley, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q342636, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0197855/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/52935 ## Streaming the US now - **Disney+:** [*Spider-Man: Homecoming*](https://film.one/film/spider-man-homecoming.md) (74), [*Bones*](https://film.one/tv/bones.md) (70) - **Paramount+:** [*Freaks and Geeks*](https://film.one/tv/freaks-and-geeks.md) (88) - **Apple TV:** [*Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves*](https://film.one/film/dungeons-and-dragons-honor-among-thieves.md) (73) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on John Francis Daley > Half of a writing-and-directing pair with Jonathan Goldstein, Daley writes comedies about ordinary people in over their heads, and he is at his best when the stakes stay human-sized. The John Francis Daley scene is a small one. Five people bicker in a graveyard about a plan none of them is equipped to carry out. In *Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves* (2023) the sorcerer cannot make a spell work when anyone is watching, and Justice Smith plays the nerves rather than the jokes, which is why the jokes land. The plot is too big for the people in it, and that gap is where Daley's comedy lives. He has never worked alone. Daley was a child actor first and began writing with Jonathan Goldstein around 2007; their first produced screenplay was *Horrible Bosses* (2011), and the pair have not been apart since. They moved to directing with *Vacation* (2015), a revival of the National Lampoon series that drew mixed notices, then *Game Night* (2018), a comedy about ordinary people caught in a plot too big for them. Between the two came a screenplay credit, shared with several others, on *Spider-Man: Homecoming* (2017). We liked *Homecoming* well enough, and its best stretch is the school comedy, with Tom Holland as a Peter Parker who is late for everything, which is plainly the register Daley and Goldstein were hired for. How much of it is theirs we cannot say; the writing credit is crowded and the film belongs to Jon Watts. What we can say is that its action gets murkier the higher it climbs, and the same is true of *Honour Among Thieves*. The crew scenes are a pleasure. The fights are loud, grey and long, and by the last act the film we had been enjoying has been swapped for a bigger and worse one. We laughed, properly, at five people bickering in a graveyard in *Honour Among Thieves*, because the film is fond of the game rather than solemn about it and lets the crew, not the setting, be the joke. That is the pair's method when it works: the premise is absurd and the people inside it are not. Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez are given an ease together that most screen pairs never manage, and the script never turns them into a couple, which is the kind of restraint a lesser comedy would not have bothered with. What the films lack, on the evidence we have, is a danger we believe in between the jokes; *The Princess Bride* managed both in the same scene, and Daley and Goldstein have so far managed one at a time. The pair are credited on *Mayday* (2026). We would like it to be small. Everything they have made gets better the closer it gets to a table with five people around it, and worse the nearer it gets to the sky. ## Biography John Francis Daley is an American writer, director and actor. Born on 20 July 1985 in Wheeling, Illinois, he began his career as a child actor, appearing in the national tour of *The Who's Tommy* and gaining prominence as Sam Weir in the NBC series *Freaks and Geeks* (1999–2000). He later played Dr Lance Sweets in *Bones* (2005–2014). Daley is best known for his long-running writing and directing partnership with Jonathan Goldstein. Their collaborations include the screenplays for *Horrible Bosses* (2011), *The Incredible Burt Wonderstone* (2013) and *Spider-Man: Homecoming* (2017), and they made their directorial debuts with *Vacation* (2015). They co-directed *Game Night* (2018) and *Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves* (2023), on which Daley also received screenplay credit. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (5) ### Performed in (2) - *Bones* (2005), Fi1m 70, as Lance Sweets — [page](https://film.one/tv/bones.md) - *Freaks and Geeks* (1999), Fi1m 88, as Sam Weir — [page](https://film.one/tv/freaks-and-geeks.md) ### Directed (1) - *Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves* (2023), Fi1m 73, Executive Producer, Director, Songs, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/dungeons-and-dragons-honor-among-thieves.md) ### Wrote (2) — the average rests on these - *The Flash* (2023), Fi1m 50, Screenstory — [page](https://film.one/film/the-flash.md) - *Spider-Man: Homecoming* (2017), Fi1m 74, Screenplay, Screenstory — [page](https://film.one/film/spider-man-homecoming.md) ## Complete filmography (42) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Mayday* (2026), as LSO · Writer, Director, Producer - *Hysteria!* (2024), series, Executive Producer - *Vacation Friends 2* (2023), Characters - *The Flash* (2023), Screenstory — Fi1m 50, [page](https://film.one/film/the-flash.md) - *Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves* (2023), as Special Creature Voice (voice) · Executive Producer, Songs, Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/dungeons-and-dragons-honor-among-thieves.md) - *Vacation Friends* (2021), Writer - *Welcome to Georgia* (2021), Executive Producer, Screenplay - *Stuber* (2019), Producer - *In the Dark* (2019), series, Director, Consulting Producer - *Game Night* (2018), as Carter · Director - *Spider-Man: Homecoming* (2017), Screenstory, Screenplay — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/spider-man-homecoming.md) - *Bottom's Butte* (2016), as Scott/Cabana Boy - *Vacation* (2015), Ride Operator, Writer, Director, Songs - *Dude Bro Party Massacre III* (2015), as Ernest - *Fresh Off the Boat* (2015), series, as Jordan - *Horrible Bosses 2* (2014), Story - *Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2* (2013), Screenplay - *Rapture-Palooza* (2013), as Ben House - *The Incredible Burt Wonderstone* (2013), as Paramedic 1 · Screenplay, Story - *The Finder* (2012), series, as Lance Sweets - *Horrible Bosses* (2011), as Carter · Screenplay - *Audio Tour* (2011), Director, Screenplay - *5-25-77* (2008), as Pat Johnson - *Yo Gabba Gabba!* (2007), series, Actor - *Clark and Michael* (2007), series, as Tom - *Waiting...* (2005), as Mitch - *Kitchen Confidential* (2005), series, as Jim - *Bones* (2005), series, as Lance Sweets · Writer — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/bones.md) - *Regular Joe* (2003), series, as Grant Binder - *View from the Top* (2003), as Rodney - *The Ellen Show* (2001), series, as Erik - *What Babies Do* (2001), Director - *Boston Public* (2000), series, as Anthony Ward - *The Geena Davis Show* (2000), series, as Carter Ryan - *Freaks and Geeks* (1999), series, as Sam Weir, Songs — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/freaks-and-geeks.md) - *Judging Amy* (1999), series, as Jace Crosby - *Spin City* (1996), series, as Spencer - *Monopoly*, Screenplay - *Renegades*, Director, Producer - *Care Bears*, Producer - *Diya*, Producer - *Untitled Star Trek Film*, Director, Screenplay, Producer ## Gallery - ![Tamara Taylor, David Boreanaz, Michaela Conlin, John Francis Daley (2008)](https://film.one/media/person/21414/gallery-d41644168643.jpg) Tamara Taylor, David Boreanaz, Michaela Conlin, John Francis Daley (2008) — watchwithkristin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Bones_cast.jpg/1280px-Bones_cast.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![John Francis Daley at the 2004 Comic-Con International.](https://film.one/media/person/21414/gallery-0f58f7ebe9a3.jpg) John Francis Daley at the 2004 Comic-Con International. — jfer21 at https://www.flickr.com/photos/jfer21/, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/JohnFrancisDaleyCCJuly04.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![John Francis Daley](https://film.one/media/person/21414/gallery-a8e8aa2c800e.jpg) John Francis Daley — Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/John_Francis_Daley_at_San_Diego_Comic_Con_2026.jpg/1280px-John_Francis_Daley_at_San_Diego_Comic_Con_2026.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![John Francis Daley (2012)](https://film.one/media/person/21414/gallery-86d27557f6a7.jpg) John Francis Daley (2012) — Genevieve, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/John_Francis_Daley_in_March_2012.jpg/1280px-John_Francis_Daley_in_March_2012.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![John Francis Daley](https://film.one/media/person/21414/gallery-906a6eb7734a.jpg) John Francis Daley — Image via TMDB - ![John Francis Daley (2012)](https://film.one/media/person/21414/gallery-dd34adf86afc.jpg) John Francis Daley (2012) — Genevieve, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/John_Francis_Daley_in_March_2012_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-John_Francis_Daley_in_March_2012_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) --- © 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/john-francis-daley