---
name: "Lana Wachowski"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/lana-wachowski"
fi1m_id: "lana-wachowski"
imdb_id: "nm0905154"
tmdb_id: 9340
wikidata_id: "Q9545711"
roles: ["Writer","Producer","Director"]
born: "21 June 1965"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 6
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-05T02:48:45.094962+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."
---

# Lana Wachowski

## Identity

Lana Wachowski

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/lana-wachowski
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** lana-wachowski
- **IMDb ID:** nm0905154
- **TMDB ID:** 9340
- **Wikidata ID:** Q9545711
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lana_Wachowski, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9545711, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0905154/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9340

Writer and producer. Born 21 June 1965 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Producer, Director
- **Born:** 21 June 1965, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- **Active:** 1996–present
- **Also known as:** The Wachowskis, The Wachowski Sisters, The Wachowski Brothers, Larry Wachowski
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 6: 5 directing, 1 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Lilly Wachowski](https://film.one/person/lilly-wachowski.md), [Carrie-Anne Moss](https://film.one/person/carrie-anne-moss.md), [Hugo Weaving](https://film.one/person/hugo-weaving.md), [Joel Silver](https://film.one/person/joel-silver.md), [Keanu Reeves](https://film.one/person/keanu-reeves.md), [Laurence Fishburne](https://film.one/person/laurence-fishburne.md), [Jada Pinkett Smith](https://film.one/person/jada-pinkett-smith.md), [James McTeigue](https://film.one/person/james-mcteigue.md)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 84 (2), 2000s 60 (3), 2020s 66 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lana_Wachowski, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9545711, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0905154/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9340

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Matrix*](https://film.one/film/the-matrix.md) (88), [*The Matrix Reloaded*](https://film.one/film/the-matrix-reloaded.md) (60), [*The Matrix Revolutions*](https://film.one/film/the-matrix-revolutions.md) (46)
- **The Criterion Channel:** [*Bound*](https://film.one/film/bound.md) (80)

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

## Fi1m on Lana Wachowski

> Lana Wachowski is at her best when ideas change what her characters can do, rather than what they have to explain. We admire the ambition and invention, but the speeches can try our patience.

In *Bound* (1996), two women plotting against a mobster have to make us care about their attraction before the complications can matter. Lana and Lilly Wachowski, writing and directing their first feature, get that order right. We value Lana’s writing most when it gives characters something urgent to do with the questions troubling them. Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly make the attraction convincing, and the tightly planned crime leaves room for awkward developments to become funny. The script occasionally inserts a complication to prove how clever it is, but the women remain worth following.

With *The Matrix* (1999), the pair make a question about reality determine what happens in a fight. Martial arts and computer effects let bodies challenge the rules that the dialogue spends so long explaining. We were thrilled by those fights because the uncertainty about what a body could do made the ideas worth attending to. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss give the spectacle people to care about, which matters as much as the invention. The explanations still test our patience; the writing is more persuasive when a change in understanding produces a change in movement.

In James McTeigue’s *V for Vendetta* (2006), Lana and Lilly’s screenplay asks an action audience to consider power and personal responsibility. Hugo Weaving makes the masked revolutionary compelling enough that agreeing with him can feel uncomfortable. That is a useful unease, and we welcome a thriller willing to cause it. But the speeches too often explain what we have already understood, leaving Weaving to make the repeated lesson worth hearing.

*Cloud Atlas* (2012), co-written and co-directed with Lilly and Tom Tykwer, expands the storytelling to connected lives across time. *The Matrix Resurrections* (2021), which Lana directed alone, returns to questions of identity. Start with *The Matrix*, and allow yourself some impatience with the lectures.

## Biography

Lana Wachowski is an American film director and screenwriter. With her sister Lilly Wachowski, she made her feature directorial debut on the 1996 neo-noir *Bound*, which the pair also wrote.

The Wachowskis are best known for directing and writing *The Matrix* (1999) and its sequels *The Matrix Reloaded* (2003) and *The Matrix Revolutions* (2003). Their other credits include the screenplay for *V for Vendetta* (2006), and directing and writing *Speed Racer* (2008), *Cloud Atlas* (2012), *Jupiter Ascending* (2015) and *The Matrix Resurrections* (2021). Wachowski was born Laurence Wachowski in Chicago, Illinois, on 21 June 1965.

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

## On Fi1m (6)

### Directed (5)

- *The Matrix Resurrections* (2021), Fi1m 66, Director, Writer, Producer, Characters — [page](https://film.one/film/the-matrix-resurrections.md)
- *The Matrix Reloaded* (2003), Fi1m 60, Director, Characters, Writer, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-matrix-reloaded.md)
- *The Matrix Revolutions* (2003), Fi1m 46, Writer, Director, Executive Producer, Characters — [page](https://film.one/film/the-matrix-revolutions.md)
- *The Matrix* (1999), Fi1m 88, Writer, Executive Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-matrix.md)
- *Bound* (1996), Fi1m 80, Director, Executive Producer, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/bound.md)

### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these

- *V for Vendetta* (2006), Fi1m 73, Producer, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/v-for-vendetta.md)

## Complete filmography (28)

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

- *Hanging on by a Thread* (2024), Original Film Writer
- *The Draft!* (2023), Thanks
- *The Matrix Resurrections* (2021), Characters, Writer, Director, Producer — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/the-matrix-resurrections.md)
- *Happy F*cking New Year.* (2016), Director, Creator, Writer
- *Sense8* (2015), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Director, Creator
- *Jupiter Ascending* (2015), Director, Producer, Writer
- *Cloud Atlas: Everything Is Connected* (2013), Actor
- *Cloud Atlas* (2012), Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *Ninja Assassin* (2009), Producer
- *Speed Racer* (2008), Director, Producer, Writer
- *V for Vendetta* (2006), Screenplay, Producer — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/v-for-vendetta.md)
- *The Matrix Revolutions* (2003), Director, Executive Producer, Writer, Characters — Fi1m 46, [page](https://film.one/film/the-matrix-revolutions.md)
- *Kid's Story* (2003), Story, Original Film Writer
- *Matriculated* (2003), Original Film Writer
- *Beyond* (2003), Original Film Writer
- *World Record* (2003), Original Film Writer
- *Program* (2003), Original Film Writer
- *The Matrix Reloaded* (2003), Director, Executive Producer, Writer, Characters — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/film/the-matrix-reloaded.md)
- *The Animatrix* (2003), Producer, Story, Writer, Original Film Writer
- *The Second Renaissance Part II* (2003), Writer, Original Film Writer
- *Final Flight of the Osiris* (2003), Writer, Original Film Writer
- *The Animatrix* (2003), series, Writer, Story
- *The Second Renaissance Part I* (2003), Original Film Writer, Writer
- *The Matrix Revisited* (2001), Executive Producer
- *The Matrix* (1999), Director, Writer, Executive Producer — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/the-matrix.md)
- *Bound* (1996), Screenplay, Director, Executive Producer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/bound.md)
- *Assassins* (1995), Screenplay, Story
- *The Matrix 5*, Executive Producer, Characters

## Gallery

- ![Andrew and Lana Wachowski. (2012)](https://film.one/media/person/87023/gallery-934a52598f01.jpg) Andrew and Lana Wachowski. (2012) — anna Hanks, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Andrew_and_Lana_Wachowski_%282012%29.JPG/1280px-Andrew_and_Lana_Wachowski_%282012%29.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Andrew Wachowski and Lana Wachowski. (2012)](https://film.one/media/person/87023/gallery-0ab2fb40a029.jpg) Andrew Wachowski and Lana Wachowski. (2012) — anna Hanks, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Andy_and_Lana_Wachowski_%282012%29.JPG/1280px-Andy_and_Lana_Wachowski_%282012%29.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Lana Wachowski](https://film.one/media/person/87023/gallery-0514cb3b9672.jpg) Lana Wachowski — Anna Hanks, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Lana_Wachowski%2C_Fantastic_Fest%2C_Cloud_Atlas.jpg/1280px-Lana_Wachowski%2C_Fantastic_Fest%2C_Cloud_Atlas.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Lana Wachowski and Karin Winslow at the opening 75th Berlin International Film Festival (2025)](https://film.one/media/person/87023/gallery-00d6b0108163.jpg) Lana Wachowski and Karin Winslow at the opening 75th Berlin International Film Festival (2025) — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/Lana_Wachowski-2763.jpg/1280px-Lana_Wachowski-2763.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Lana Wachowski](https://film.one/media/person/87023/gallery-d1e9d0bb6a36.jpg) Lana Wachowski — Image via TMDB
- ![Lana Wachowski](https://film.one/media/person/87023/gallery-92fb53620f99.jpg) Lana Wachowski — Image via TMDB
- ![Lana Wachowski](https://film.one/media/person/87023/gallery-dbd328dc81a6.jpg) Lana Wachowski — Image via TMDB
- ![Lana Wachowski at the opening 75th Berlin International Film Festival (2025)](https://film.one/media/person/87023/gallery-c5232e28cb19.jpg) Lana Wachowski at the opening 75th Berlin International Film Festival (2025) — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Lana_Wachowski-2787.jpg/1280px-Lana_Wachowski-2787.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Lana Wachowski](https://film.one/media/person/87023/gallery-9bd5e35c84a3.jpg) Lana Wachowski — Image via TMDB
- ![Lana Wachowski](https://film.one/media/person/87023/gallery-6c63ce04aaff.jpg) Lana Wachowski — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 1 won

- Saturn Awards 2000: Best Director (won), for *The Matrix*

*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/lana-wachowski