---
name: "Jonathan Nolan"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/jonathan-nolan"
fi1m_id: "jonathan-nolan"
imdb_id: "nm0634300"
tmdb_id: 527
wikidata_id: "Q372788"
roles: ["Writer","Director","Producer"]
born: "6 June 1976"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 8
average_fi1m_score: 82
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 5
updated: "2026-10-22T04:04:31.205651+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."
---

# Jonathan Nolan

## Identity

Jonathan Nolan

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/jonathan-nolan
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** jonathan-nolan
- **IMDb ID:** nm0634300
- **TMDB ID:** 527
- **Wikidata ID:** Q372788
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Nolan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q372788, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634300/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/527

Writer and director. Born 6 June 1976 in London, England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Director, Producer
- **Born:** 6 June 1976, London, England, UK
- **Active:** 2000–present
- **Also known as:** 조너선 놀란, 乔纳森 诺兰, 조너선 놀런, 強納森諾蘭, Jonah Nolan, جاناتان نولان
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 8: 3 directing, 5 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Christopher Nolan](https://film.one/person/christopher-nolan.md), [Emma Thomas](https://film.one/person/emma-thomas.md), [Christian Bale](https://film.one/person/christian-bale.md), [Fred Toye](https://film.one/person/frederick-e-o-toye.md), [Michael Caine](https://film.one/person/michael-caine.md), [Stephen Williams](https://film.one/person/stephen-williams.md), [Anne Hathaway](https://film.one/person/anne-hathaway.md), [Charles Roven](https://film.one/person/charles-roven.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 82, as writer, over 5 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 85 (3), 2010s 76 (4), 2020s 80 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 82 to 76 across 5 titles
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Thriller 3, Action 2, Crime 2, Mystery 2, Science Fiction 2
- **Screen time:** 12 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $2,982m across 5 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Nolan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q372788, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634300/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/527

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*The Dark Knight*](https://film.one/film/the-dark-knight.md) (85), [*The Dark Knight Rises*](https://film.one/film/the-dark-knight-rises.md) (74)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Fallout*](https://film.one/tv/fallout.md) (80)
- **Apple TV:** [*Interstellar*](https://film.one/film/interstellar.md) (79)
- **Peacock:** [*Person of Interest*](https://film.one/tv/person-of-interest.md) (78)

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

## Fi1m on Jonathan Nolan

> Jonathan Nolan writes machines that watch and refuse to stop, and at his best, in *Person of Interest* and *Westworld*'s first season, the people in front of them matter more than the puzzle. His recurring weakness is explaining what he has already shown.

In *Person of Interest* the city is seen from high corners, grainy and slightly too far away, with a box drawn round each face: white for the team, yellow for people the Machine knows, red for the ones about to do harm. It is the cleanest image Jonathan Nolan has put on a screen and the one that tells you most about him. Something looks down and sorts us. The question is what the people underneath will do about it, and he has been asking it for more than a decade.

He began as his brother's supplier. A short story of his became *Memento* (2000), and he then co-wrote *The Prestige* (2006), *The Dark Knight* (2008), *The Dark Knight Rises* (2012) and *Interstellar* (2014) with Christopher Nolan. We rate those films, the first two highly, and our complaint in every one of them was the same: the screenplay labours a connection after the actors have made it plain. In *Interstellar* the dialogue sounds prepared for an audience taking notes. In *The Dark Knight* characters check that we have followed the discussion. Lee Smith's editing does much to keep *The Prestige* brisk while the writing accounts for its puzzle.

Then he built his own machines. *Person of Interest* (2011) ran for five seasons on a network best known for tidy crime procedurals and hid a paranoid idea inside the format, one case a week, and got stranger and better as it went. Michael Emerson's Finch is the reason to stay. *Westworld* (2016), made with Lisa Joy, turns Crichton's camera round so we see the park from the robots' side. Its first season unsettled us more than we expected, and what did it was the hosts waking each morning with no memory of the night before, cheerful and ready to be shot again; Evan Rachel Wood and Thandiwe Newton have never been better used. Three more seasons followed, none as good, and by the fourth the show had fallen in love with its puzzles and lost the people. *Fallout* (2024), where he directed the first three episodes, is funny and carefully made, and Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins carry it through a plot that wanders.

The pattern is consistent. Give him one person to stand in front of the machine, Finch, Dolores, Purnell's Lucy, and the writing trusts them. Take the person away and he starts explaining. Ramin Djawadi's clipped pulses on *Person of Interest* do more to make the Machine frightening than any speech about it, which is a lesson Nolan keeps learning and keeps forgetting.

Asked about *Westworld* he has said, "We'd like to finish the story we started." We would like him to as well, with the people back in front and rather less said out loud.

## Biography

Jonathan Nolan is a British-American screenwriter, producer and director. He was born in London on 6 June 1976.

He has collaborated frequently with his brother, director Christopher Nolan, on films including *Memento* (2000), *The Prestige* (2006), *The Dark Knight* (2008), *The Dark Knight Rises* (2012) and *Interstellar* (2014). Nolan created the CBS series *Person of Interest* (2011–2016) and co-created the HBO series *Westworld* (2016–2022).

In 2024 he directed the first three episodes of the Prime Video series *Fallout* and served as an executive producer. He has received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for *Memento* and Primetime Emmy Award nominations for *Westworld*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, fallout.fandom.com, variety.com.*

## On Fi1m (8)

### Directed (3)

- *Fallout* (2024), Fi1m 80, Director, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/fallout.md)
- *Westworld* (2016), Fi1m 74, Director, Executive Producer, Story, Writer, Teleplay, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/westworld-2016.md)
- *Person of Interest* (2011), Fi1m 78, Story, Director, Executive Producer, Writer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/person-of-interest.md)

### Wrote (5) — the average rests on these

- *Interstellar* (2014), Fi1m 79, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/interstellar.md)
- *The Dark Knight Rises* (2012), Fi1m 74, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-dark-knight-rises.md)
- *The Dark Knight* (2008), Fi1m 85, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-dark-knight.md)
- *The Prestige* (2006), Fi1m 82, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-prestige.md)
- *Memento* (2000), Fi1m 88, Short Story — [page](https://film.one/film/memento.md)

## Complete filmography (15)

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

- *The Odyssey* (2026), Thanks — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/the-odyssey.md)
- *Fallout* (2024), series, Executive Producer, Director — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/fallout.md)
- *Wrath of the Titans: ARGOS* (2024), as Ammon
- *The Peripheral* (2022), series, Executive Producer
- *Reminiscence* (2021), Producer
- *Westworld* (2016), series, Director, Executive Producer, Writer, Story, Teleplay, Creator — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/westworld-2016.md)
- *Interstellar* (2014), Writer — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/interstellar.md)
- *The Dark Knight Rises* (2012), Screenplay — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/the-dark-knight-rises.md)
- *Person of Interest* (2011), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Director, Story, Creator — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/person-of-interest.md)
- *The Dark Knight* (2008), Screenplay — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/the-dark-knight.md)
- *The Prestige* (2006), Screenplay — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-prestige.md)
- *Memento* (2000), Short Story — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/memento.md)
- *Following* (1999), Grip
- *Doodlebug* (1997), Grip
- *Fourth Wing*, series, Executive Producer

## Gallery

- ![Jonathan Nolan](https://film.one/media/person/23438/gallery-57487d667d23.jpg) Jonathan Nolan — Vbrunophotog, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Jonathan_Nolan_at_SXSW_2024.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Jonathan Nolan](https://film.one/media/person/23438/gallery-acfcdc95d944.jpg) Jonathan Nolan — Image via TMDB
- ![Jonathan Nolan](https://film.one/media/person/23438/gallery-493a570851c6.jpg) Jonathan Nolan — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 2002: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Memento*

*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/jonathan-nolan