---
name: "Nick Cassavetes"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/nick-cassavetes"
fi1m_id: "nick-cassavetes"
imdb_id: "nm0001024"
tmdb_id: 11151
wikidata_id: "Q431191"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "21 May 1959"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-04T19:15:38.653761+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."
---

# Nick Cassavetes

## Identity

Nick Cassavetes

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/nick-cassavetes
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** nick-cassavetes
- **IMDb ID:** nm0001024
- **TMDB ID:** 11151
- **Wikidata ID:** Q431191
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Cassavetes, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q431191, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001024/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/11151

Director. Born 21 May 1959 in New York City, New York, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 21 May 1959, New York City, New York, USA
- **Active:** 1985–2011
- **Also known as:** Nicholas Cassavetes , نیک کاساوتیس
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 3 acting, 1 directing
- **Frequently works with:** [Joan Allen](https://film.one/person/joan-allen.md)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 81 (1), 1990s 84 (1), 2000s 74 (1), 2010s 44 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Cassavetes, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q431191, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001024/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/11151

## Fi1m on Nick Cassavetes

> Nick Cassavetes takes large feelings seriously and gives his actors room to make them convincing. We like *The Notebook* for that generosity, while wishing he would stop underlining what its leads have already made clear.

Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams make attraction look like pleasure in *The Notebook* (2004), and Nick Cassavetes gives them room to do it. We rate it as a good romantic melodrama, with a director who presses harder than he needs to. We were moved by the lovers because the actors make their enjoyment of each other convincing. Taking young love seriously is a sound starting point for this kind of film.

He began directing with *Unhook the Stars* (1996), featuring Gena Rowlands, and followed it with *She's So Lovely* (1997). *John Q* (2002), with Denzel Washington, and *The Notebook* brought the move into mainstream prominence. The career then took in the youth crime of *Alpha Dog* (2006) and the adaptation *My Sister's Keeper* (2009), both of which he also wrote. These are different subjects, but the recurring interest is in character drama that can reach a broad audience.

His habit of staying close to actors on set, rather than watching from a remote monitor, is worth noting. The direction we value in *The Notebook* is the kind that gives the performers space to make their own case, and that working method seems suited to it. Gosling and McAdams do not need the film to keep explaining why their romance matters; their pleasure in each other has already persuaded us.

That makes the extra insistence frustrating. Jan Sardi and Jeremy Leven's screenplay, adapted from Nicholas Sparks's novel, repeatedly underlines feelings the cast has already made clear, and Cassavetes lets those reminders accumulate. There is nothing wrong with asking for tears in a romantic melodrama, but the pressure can make the direction seem anxious about its audience. He has actors who can do the work and could afford to let a moment pass without further persuasion. Choose *The Notebook* for those leads, with some tolerance for a director determined to make sure the evening is emotional.

## Biography

Nick Cassavetes is an American actor, director and writer. He was born on 21 May 1959 in New York City, the son of actor and director John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands. He began acting as a child in his father's films and later trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

As an actor, Cassavetes appeared in *Face/Off* (1997) as Dietrich Hassler, as well as *The Wraith* (1986) and *Blow* (2001). He has directed films including *Unhook the Stars* (1996), *She's So Lovely* (1997), *John Q.* (2002), *The Notebook* (2004), *Alpha Dog* (2006) and *My Sister's Keeper* (2009). He also wrote the screenplay for *Blow* (2001).

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

## On Fi1m (4)

### Performed in (3)

- *The Hangover Part II* (2011), Fi1m 44, as Tattoo Joe — [page](https://film.one/film/the-hangover-part-ii.md)
- *Face/Off* (1997), Fi1m 84, as Dietrich Hassler — [page](https://film.one/film/face-off.md)
- *Mask* (1985), Fi1m 81, as T.J. — [page](https://film.one/film/mask.md)

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

- *The Notebook* (2004), Fi1m 74, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-notebook.md)

## Complete filmography (63)

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

- *Bad Hombres* (2025), as Dr. Dean 'Growler' Graulich
- *Dizzy* (2025), Executive Producer
- *Marked Men: Rule + Shaw* (2025), Director
- *God Is a Bullet* (2023), Director, Screenplay
- *Impulse* (2023), as Zane · Executive Producer
- *The Difficulties Of Being Drunk Alone* (2022), Producer
- *Prisoners of the Ghostland* (2021), as Psycho
- *Queenpins* (2021), as Captain Pain
- *Red Handed* (2020), Producer, Executive Producer
- *Yellow* (2014), Screenplay, Director
- *The Other Woman* (2014), Director
- *The Hangover Part II* (2011), as Tattoo Joe — Fi1m 44, [page](https://film.one/film/the-hangover-part-ii.md)
- *My Sister's Keeper* (2009), Screenplay, Director
- *Alpha Dog* (2006), Screenplay, Director
- *The Notebook* (2004), Director — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/the-notebook.md)
- *Whatever We Do* (2003), Writer
- *John Q* (2002), Director
- *Blow* (2001), as Man in Derek's Salon (uncredited) · Screenplay
- *The Independent* (2000), as Nick Cassavetes
- *The Astronaut's Wife* (1999), as Captain Alex Streck
- *Life* (1999), as Sergeant Dillard
- *Conversations in Limbo* (1998), Actor
- *She's So Lovely* (1997), Director
- *Face/Off* (1997), as Dietrich Hassler — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/face-off.md)
- *Farticus* (1997), as Adonis Papadapadopounopoulopoulos
- *Unhook the Stars* (1996), Writer, Director
- *E! True Hollywood Story* (1996), series, Actor
- *Black Rose of Harlem* (1996), as Johnny
- *Just Like Dad* (1995), as Joe
- *Class of 1999 II: The Substitute* (1994), as Emmett Grazer
- *Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle* (1994), as Robert Sherwood
- *Body of Influence* (1994), as Jonathan Brooks
- *Sins of the Night* (1993), as Jack Neitsche
- *Sins of Desire* (1993), as Barry Mitchum
- *Broken Trust* (1993), as Alan Brogan
- *Twogether* (1992), as Wolfgang Amadeus 'John' Madler
- *Delta Force 3: The Killing Game* (1991), as Charlie
- *Healing Hurts* (1991), Actor
- *Backstreet Dreams* (1990), as Mikey
- *Shannon's Deal* (1990), series, Actor
- *Blind Fury* (1989), as Lyle Pike
- *Quantum Leap* (1989), series, as Primo La Palma
- *Desperation Rising* (1989), as Tony Sarchuzi
- *Shooter* (1988), as Tex
- *Assault of the Killer Bimbos* (1988), as Wayne-O
- *Under the Gun* (1988), as Tony Braxton
- *Quiet Cool* (1986), as Valence
- *The Wraith* (1986), as Packard Walsh
- *L.A. Law* (1986), series, as Richard Bertrand
- *Matlock* (1986), series, as Foley
- *Black Moon Rising* (1986), as Luis
- *Mask* (1985), as T.J. — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/mask.md)
- *Reunion* (1980), as Steve Cowan
- *No Angel*, Director
- *Have You Seen Her?*, Writer, Director
- *I Slept with Joey Ramone*, Director, Screenplay
- *Cus & Mike*, Director
- *Now I See You*, Director
- *Exhale*, as Phillip
- *Bruno Penguin and the Staten Island Princess*, Director
- *Quiet Storm*, Executive Producer
- *The Boy with the Pink Pants*, Director
- *Object of Desire*, Actor

## Gallery

- ![Nick Cassavetes in June 2009.](https://film.one/media/person/87255/gallery-a59455e7c2ef.jpg) Nick Cassavetes in June 2009. — Angela George at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sharongraphics/, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/NickCassavetesJune09.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Nick Cassavetes in June 2009.](https://film.one/media/person/87255/gallery-80e20c9e2569.jpg) Nick Cassavetes in June 2009. — Angela George at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sharongraphics/, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Nick_Cassavetes_%283653049650%29.jpg/1280px-Nick_Cassavetes_%283653049650%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Nick Cassavetes](https://film.one/media/person/87255/gallery-bdd7f2d78f5a.jpg) Nick Cassavetes — Image via TMDB
- ![Nick Cassavetes](https://film.one/media/person/87255/gallery-f9e93207574b.jpg) Nick Cassavetes — Image via TMDB
- ![Nick Cassavetes](https://film.one/media/person/87255/gallery-2242fbe08b19.jpg) Nick Cassavetes — Image via TMDB

---
© 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/nick-cassavetes