--- name: "Shane Carruth" canonical: "https://film.one/person/shane-carruth" fi1m_id: "shane-carruth" imdb_id: "nm1503403" tmdb_id: 76624 wikidata_id: "Q3481357" roles: ["Actor","Director"] born: "1 January 1972" reviewed_on_fi1m: 4 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-17T18:10:35.939189+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." --- # Shane Carruth ## Identity Shane Carruth - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/shane-carruth - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** shane-carruth - **IMDb ID:** nm1503403 - **TMDB ID:** 76624 - **Wikidata ID:** Q3481357 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Carruth, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3481357, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1503403/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/76624 Actor and director. Born 1 January 1972 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Actor, Director - **Born:** 1 January 1972, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA - **Active:** 2004–2017 - **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 1 acting, 1 directing, 1 crew, 1 other - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 79 (1), 2010s 83 (3) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Carruth, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3481357, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1503403/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/76624 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*Swiss Army Man*](https://film.one/film/swiss-army-man.md) (75) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Shane Carruth > Shane Carruth makes specialised talk sound like ordinary working conversation, without announcing when we should be alarmed. His matter-of-fact acting in *Primer* is worth the effort, though the tangled storytelling can demand more patience than it rewards. In *Primer* (2004), Shane Carruth speaks the scientific language as though nobody would need it explained. His Aaron and David Sullivan's Abe sound like men accustomed to these conversations, with no need to underline the important words. We felt uneasy listening to them because their calm competence made time travel seem horribly practical. Carruth makes an engineer's concentration convincing, and he does not need grand displays of astonishment to persuade us that the discovery matters. He wrote and directed *Primer*, then returned as writer, director and actor in his second feature, *Upstream Colour* (2013). There he plays Jeff, in a science-fiction story concerned with identity and connection. His other acting credits include the coroner in *Swiss Army Man* (2016) and Daniel Forrester, the lead in the psychological thriller *The Dead Centre* (2018). These parts sit alongside an unusually close involvement in making his own films, where the performance is one of several jobs he takes on. In *Primer*, Troy Dick's rough-looking cinematography helps that performance by declining to make the engineers look grand. Carruth's own production design makes their invention look like a practical problem somebody has solved, so Aaron belongs in the space around him. He also edits and composes, and the cutting provides much of the anxiety that he keeps out of his voice. The music is less memorable; the technical exchanges give us enough to attend to. The difficulty comes when the scrambled storytelling makes it hard to keep track of the people as well as the machine. Carruth and Sullivan make the language convincing, but that cannot make every conversation's place in the story clear. The coroner role in *Swiss Army Man* is a smaller reason to seek him out: that film is carried by Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe. For his acting, begin with *Primer*, provided working out a film is your idea of an evening well spent. ## Biography Shane Carruth is an American filmmaker. He wrote, directed, produced, edited, composed the music for and performed one of the lead roles in his debut feature *Primer* (2004); he also served as production designer. The film won the Grand Jury Prize and the Alfred P. Sloan Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Carruth was born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 1972. Before filmmaking he studied mathematics at Stephen F. Austin State University and worked as a software engineer developing flight-simulation software. His second feature, *Upstream Color* (2013), for which he again handled multiple key roles including director, writer and composer, premiered at Sundance. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (4) ### Performed in (1) — the average rests on these - *Swiss Army Man* (2016), Fi1m 75, as Coroner — [page](https://film.one/film/swiss-army-man.md) ### Directed (1) - *Primer* (2004), Fi1m 79, as Aaron — [page](https://film.one/film/primer.md) ### Crew (1) - *A Ghost Story* (2017), Fi1m 84, Additional Editor — [page](https://film.one/film/a-ghost-story.md) ### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited - *Moonlight* (2016), Fi1m 89, Thanks — [page](https://film.one/film/moonlight.md) ## Complete filmography (17) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Tales from the Loop* (2020), series, as Cole (40's) - *The Dead Center* (2019), as Daniel Forrester · Producer - *A Ghost Story* (2017), Additional Editor — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/a-ghost-story.md) - *Moonlight* (2016), Thanks — Fi1m 89, [page](https://film.one/film/moonlight.md) - *Memory Box* (2016), as The Man - *Swiss Army Man* (2016), as Coroner — Fi1m 75, [page](https://film.one/film/swiss-army-man.md) - *The Girlfriend Experience* (2016), series, as Sam · Original Music Composer - *Allegiant* (2016), as Other - *Breakthrough* (2015), series, Director - *Silhouettes - Paula Machado* (2015), Thanks - *We'll Find Something* (2015), as Steve - *Everything & Everything & Everything* (2014), as Morgan - *Devils in Disguise* (2014), Thanks - *Sun Don't Shine* (2013), Executive Producer - *Upstream Color* (2013), as Jeff · Writer, Director, Cinematography, Editor, Music, Camera Operator, Producer - *Looper* (2012), Thanks — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/looper.md) - *Primer* (2004), as Aaron · Director, Music, Writer, Producer, Sound Designer, Production Design, Editor — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/primer.md) ## Gallery - ![Shane Carruth](https://film.one/media/person/98699/gallery-841191ec397a.jpg) Shane Carruth — Jonathan Crow (Official website), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Shane_Carruth_%288748841070%29.jpg/1280px-Shane_Carruth_%288748841070%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Shane Carruth](https://film.one/media/person/98699/gallery-9dd2438616ba.jpg) Shane Carruth — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Other awards — 2 won, 4 nominated - Independent Spirit Awards 2014: Best Director (nominated), for *Upstream Color* - Independent Spirit Awards 2014: Best Editing (nominated), for *Upstream Color* - Independent Spirit Awards 2005: Best First Screenplay (nominated), for *Primer* - Independent Spirit Awards 2005: Best Director (nominated), for *Primer* - Alfred P. Sloan Prize 2004: Alfred P. Sloan Prize (won), for *Primer* - Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Award 2004: Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Award (won), for *Primer* *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/shane-carruth