---
name: "Martin McDonagh"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/martin-mcdonagh"
fi1m_id: "martin-mcdonagh"
imdb_id: "nm1732981"
tmdb_id: 54472
wikidata_id: "Q372394"
roles: ["Director","Writer","Producer"]
born: "26 March 1970"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 78
average_as: "director"
average_over: 4
updated: "2026-10-22T04:22:36.774067+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."
---

# Martin McDonagh

## Identity

Martin McDonagh

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/martin-mcdonagh
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** martin-mcdonagh
- **IMDb ID:** nm1732981
- **TMDB ID:** 54472
- **Wikidata ID:** Q372394
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_McDonagh, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q372394, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1732981/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/54472

Director and writer. Born 26 March 1970 in Camberwell, London, England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer, Producer
- **Born:** 26 March 1970, Camberwell, London, England, UK
- **Active:** 2008–present
- **Also known as:** 마틴 맥도나, 馬丁麥多納, Martin Faranan McDonagh
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 4 directing, 1 producing
- **Frequently works with:** [Graham Broadbent](https://film.one/person/graham-broadbent.md), [Peter Czernin](https://film.one/person/peter-czernin.md), [Colin Farrell](https://film.one/person/colin-farrell.md), [Sam Rockwell](https://film.one/person/sam-rockwell.md), [Brendan Gleeson](https://film.one/person/brendan-gleeson.md), [Woody Harrelson](https://film.one/person/woody-harrelson.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 6 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 78, as director, over 4 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 83 (1), 2010s 75 (3), 2020s 84 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 78 to 78 across 4 titles
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Comedy 3, Crime 3, Drama 3
- **Screen time:** 7 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $280m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_McDonagh, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q372394, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1732981/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/54472

## Coming up

- *Wild Horse Nine* (2026-11-04), Director — [page](https://film.one/film/wild-horse-nine.md)

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri*](https://film.one/film/three-billboards-outside-ebbing-missouri.md) (74)

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

## Fi1m on Martin McDonagh

> Martin McDonagh makes foul-mouthed, sometimes violent people funny without forgetting the harm they do. We admire the warmth beneath his black comedy, though his plotting can become too convenient for the characters’ good.

In *In Bruges* (2008), two hitmen look around a medieval city and get on each other’s nerves. Martin McDonagh gives them ugly insults to trade, then allows the men delivering them to seem frightened, foolish and capable of affection. We recommend it warmly, with a reservation about the increasingly contrived plot. The appeal of his writing is clear in these exchanges: guilt does not require anyone to stop being funny. Nor does being funny make their work harmless.

His darkly comic rural Irish plays of the mid-1990s preceded the short *Six Shooter* (2004), which brought grief, absurdity and violence together on screen. *In Bruges* was his feature debut. The American-set *Seven Psychopaths* (2012) and *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri* (2017) took his writing into different surroundings, with the latter examining revenge, grief and small-town justice. *The Banshees of Inisherin* (2022) returned to an Irish island and to Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, with friendship and mortality among its concerns.

The return to that pairing makes sense. Farrell and Gleeson are central to making *In Bruges* work: their bickering gives the dialogue its pleasure, while their affection stops the unpleasantness becoming exhausting. We were moved by their companionship because they make these men’s concern for each other believable without asking us to excuse what they do. McDonagh does not tidy them up to earn our sympathy. The actors sustain our interest when the writing starts to strain, giving the exchanges enough warmth to make another argument welcome.

The trouble in *In Bruges* comes when McDonagh has to organise the action. Events become too conveniently arranged, and we start noticing the effort required to get people into position. Those conversations set a standard that the crime plotting struggles to meet. That matters in a film which has persuaded us to take these foolish men’s feelings seriously, and it is a substantial reservation about otherwise persuasive writing. Start with *In Bruges* for Farrell and Gleeson, and forgive a few overworked turns in return for their company.

## Biography

Martin McDonagh is a British-Irish playwright and filmmaker. He was born on 26 March 1970 in Camberwell, London.

McDonagh wrote and directed the feature films *In Bruges* (2008), *Seven Psychopaths* (2012), *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri* (2017), *The Banshees of Inisherin* (2022) and *Wild Horse Nine* (2026). He also wrote and directed the short film *Six Shooter* (2004).

His plays include *The Beauty Queen of Leenane* (1996), *The Cripple of Inishmaan* (1996), *The Lonesome West* (1997), *The Lieutenant of Inishmore* (2001), *The Pillowman* (2003), *A Behanding in Spokane* (2010) and *Hangmen* (2015).

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

## On Fi1m (5)

### Directed (4) — the average rests on these

- *The Banshees of Inisherin* (2022), Fi1m 84, Producer, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-banshees-of-inisherin.md)
- *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri* (2017), Fi1m 74, Producer, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/three-billboards-outside-ebbing-missouri.md)
- *Seven Psychopaths* (2012), Fi1m 72, Producer, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/seven-psychopaths.md)
- *In Bruges* (2008), Fi1m 83, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/in-bruges.md)

### Produced (1)

- *The Guard* (2011), Fi1m 78, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-guard.md)

## Complete filmography (12)

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

- *Wild Horse Nine* (2026), Director, Writer, Producer — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/film/wild-horse-nine.md)
- *The Banshees of Inisherin* (2022), Director, Producer, Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-banshees-of-inisherin.md)
- *The Origins of Ebbing* (2018), Director
- *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri* (2017), Writer, Director, Producer — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/three-billboards-outside-ebbing-missouri.md)
- *National Theatre Live: Hangmen* (2016), Writer
- *Seven Psychopaths* (2012), Director, Producer, Writer — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/seven-psychopaths.md)
- *The Guard* (2011), Executive Producer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/the-guard.md)
- *In Bruges* (2008), Director, Writer — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/in-bruges.md)
- *Cinema 16: European Short Films (U.S. Edition)* (2007), Director
- *Six Shooter* (2004), Writer, Director
- *The Beauty Queen of the Mountains* (2003), Theatre Play
- *The Second Death* (2000), Executive Producer

## Gallery

- ![Martin McDonagh](https://film.one/media/person/96429/gallery-810d150cf707.jpg) Martin McDonagh — LucaFazPhoto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Martin_McDonagh_at_83rd_Venice_International_Film_Festival-7_%28cropped_3x4%29.jpg/1280px-Martin_McDonagh_at_83rd_Venice_International_Film_Festival-7_%28cropped_3x4%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![The Banshees Of Inisherin - BFI LFF Gala - Royal Festival Hall - Thursday 13th October 2022](https://film.one/media/person/96429/gallery-089c6999703a.jpg) The Banshees Of Inisherin - BFI LFF Gala - Royal Festival Hall - Thursday 13th October 2022 — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/BansheesBFI131022_%2815_of_22%29_%2852448072269%29.jpg/1280px-BansheesBFI131022_%2815_of_22%29_%2852448072269%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![The Banshees Of Inisherin - BFI LFF Gala - Royal Festival Hall - Thursday 13th October 2022](https://film.one/media/person/96429/gallery-dbe3b2da81e9.jpg) The Banshees Of Inisherin - BFI LFF Gala - Royal Festival Hall - Thursday 13th October 2022 — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/BansheesBFI131022_%2816_of_22%29_%2852447800201%29.jpg/1280px-BansheesBFI131022_%2816_of_22%29_%2852447800201%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![The Banshees Of Inisherin - BFI LFF Gala - Royal Festival Hall - Thursday 13th October 2022](https://film.one/media/person/96429/gallery-5586a67fab8a.jpg) The Banshees Of Inisherin - BFI LFF Gala - Royal Festival Hall - Thursday 13th October 2022 — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/BansheesBFI131022_%2816_of_22%29_%2852447800201%29_%28Martin_McDonagh%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Martin McDonagh](https://film.one/media/person/96429/gallery-581588a47c2c.jpg) Martin McDonagh — Image via TMDB
- ![Martin McDonagh](https://film.one/media/person/96429/gallery-223cf5829bac.jpg) Martin McDonagh — Image via TMDB
- ![Martin McDonagh](https://film.one/media/person/96429/gallery-9976a1553bfc.jpg) Martin McDonagh — Image via TMDB
- ![The Banshees Of Inisherin - BFI LFF Gala - Royal Festival Hall - Thursday 13th October 2022](https://film.one/media/person/96429/gallery-50d0343e8fad.jpg) The Banshees Of Inisherin - BFI LFF Gala - Royal Festival Hall - Thursday 13th October 2022 — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/BansheesBFI131022_%2817_of_22%29_%2852447800136%29.jpg/1280px-BansheesBFI131022_%2817_of_22%29_%2852447800136%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![The Banshees Of Inisherin - BFI LFF Gala - Royal Festival Hall - Thursday 13th October 2022](https://film.one/media/person/96429/gallery-00172dd0ed96.jpg) The Banshees Of Inisherin - BFI LFF Gala - Royal Festival Hall - Thursday 13th October 2022 — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/BansheesBFI131022_%2818_of_22%29_%2852447799986%29.jpg/1280px-BansheesBFI131022_%2818_of_22%29_%2852447799986%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Martin McDonagh](https://film.one/media/person/96429/gallery-321f16b22364.jpg) Martin McDonagh — Image via TMDB
- ![Martin McDonagh](https://film.one/media/person/96429/gallery-3c81d5191fff.jpg) Martin McDonagh — Image via TMDB
- ![Martin McDonagh](https://film.one/media/person/96429/gallery-2340fa743e31.jpg) Martin McDonagh — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won, 6 nominated

- 2023: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *The Banshees of Inisherin*
- 2023: Best Director (nominated), for *The Banshees of Inisherin*
- 2023: Best Picture (nominated), for *The Banshees of Inisherin*
- 2018: Best Picture (nominated), for *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri*
- 2018: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri*
- 2009: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *In Bruges*
- 2006: Best Live Action Short Film (won), for *Six Shooter*

### Golden Globes — 1 won, 1 nominated

- 2023: Best Screenplay (won), for *The Banshees of Inisherin*
- 2023: Best Director (nominated), for *The Banshees of Inisherin*

### Other awards — 2 won, 5 nominated

- Tony Award for Best Play 2022: Tony Award for Best Play (nominated), for *Hangmen*
- Tony Award for Best Play 2006: Tony Award for Best Play (nominated), for *The Lieutenant of Inishmore*
- Tony Award for Best Play 2005: Tony Award for Best Play (nominated), for *The Pillowman*
- Europe Theatre Prize 1999: Europe Theatre Prize (won)
- Tony Award for Best Play 1999: Tony Award for Best Play (nominated), for *The Lonesome West*
- Tony Award for Best Play 1998: Tony Award for Best Play (nominated), for *The Beauty Queen of Leenane*
- Plimpton Prize 1997: Plimpton Prize (won)

*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/martin-mcdonagh