Jump to content

Kirsten Sheridan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kirsten Sheridan
Born (1976-07-14) 14 July 1976 (age 48)
Dublin, Ireland
Occupation(s)Director, screenwriter, editor
Years active1995–present
Children3

Kirsten Sheridan (born 14 July 1976) is an Irish film director and screenwriter. She is best known for co-writing the semi-autobiographical film In America with her father, director Jim Sheridan, and her sister, Naomi Sheridan, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay[1] and a Golden Globe Award for and Best Screenplay.[2]

She is also known as the director of films Disco Pigs and August Rush.[3]

Early life

[edit]

Born in Dublin, Sheridan moved to New York City in 1981, spending her early childhood there while her father struggled to make it as an actor and theater director. Her family moved back to Ireland eight years later, whereupon her father found success as the director of My Left Foot,[4] in which Sheridan plays the younger sister of lead actor Daniel Day-Lewis.[5] She studied script writing at New York University in 1993 and went to film school at University College Dublin, ultimately earning her film degree from Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design in 1998.

Career

[edit]

Her thesis short film Patterns won several international film festival awards, including Clermont-Ferrand, Cork, Galway, Dresden, Aspen, and Chicago, and her next short, The Case of Majella McGinty, about a little girl who escapes her stressful life by crawling into a suitcase,[6] received festival awards at Foyle, Cork, San Francisco, Cologne, and Worldfest Houston.[7]

The first feature film Sheridan directed was 2001's Disco Pigs, Enda Walsh's screen adaptation of his own play, starring Cillian Murphy and Elaine Cassidy[8] as teenagers in a lifelong, obsessive, antisocial friendship.[6] The Guardian described the independent film as a "stylised, hyperkinetic drama ... that combines kitchen-sink realism and vicious fight scenes with highly stylised fantasy sequences".[4] Disco Pigs earned Sheridan nominations for best director at the British Independent Film Awards and the Irish Film & TV Academy Awards, as well as prizes at the Castellinaria Youth Film Festival, the Giffoni Film Festival, the Young European Cinema Film Festival and the Ourense Film Festival.[7]

Next, Sheridan collaborated with her father Jim and sister Naomi on the script for In America, a film based on their memories of their family's years of poverty in New York, with the story of the death of Jim's younger brother woven in as an added element.[6] Jim directed the film, which went on to success and earned several prestigious awards nominations,[9] including an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.[5] Sheridan's latest[when?] film is 2007's August Rush, which stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Keri Russell as star-crossed lovers and musicians, Freddie Highmore as their orphaned musical prodigy offspring, and Robin Williams as a Faginesque character. The Irish Times criticized the film as "bounc(ing) around between so many forms, moods and genres that it proves impossible to get a handle on,"[10] while Variety called it "utterly predictable, but with moments of genuine charm."[11]

Sheridan directed Dollhouse in 2010.[12] Filming took place over 21 days, and it was released in 2012.[12][13][14] The unscripted story, featured a cast of young Irish actors, including then-unknown Jack Reynor and Seána Kerslake.[15] The film was featured at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival and won the jury prize at the 2012 Odesa International Film Festival.

Sheridan has won many awards for her short films.[7][9]

Sheridan was a Co-Executive Producer and a writer on the FX series ‘Say Nothing’ premiering on Hulu on November 14, 2024.

She was also an Executive Producer on the upcoming Sky/Peacock series ‘Lockerbie’, starring Colin Firth and premiering on January 2, 2025.

Personal life

[edit]

Sheridan has three children, sons Leo (born 2002), Séamus (born 2007) and Frankie (born 2010).[16]

Filmography

[edit]

Short film

Year Title Director Writer Producer Editor
1995 The Bench Yes Yes No Yes
1996 Gentleman Caller Yes No No Yes
1997 Walking into Mirrors Yes No Yes Yes
1998 Patterns Yes Yes Yes Yes
1999 The Case of Majella McGinty Yes No No No

Feature film

Year Title Director Writer
2001 Disco Pigs Yes No
2002 In America No Yes
2007 August Rush Yes No
2012 Dollhouse Yes Yes

Editor

  • Between Two Worlds (1997)
  • Ward Zone (1998)

Ref.:[17][13][18][3][19][20][21][22]

Selected awards and nominations

[edit]
Year Award Category Work Result Notes
2004 Academy Award Best Original Screenplay In America Nominated shared with Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan [1][5]
Golden Globe Award Best Screenplay Nominated shared with Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan [2]
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Writer Won shared with Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan [23]
2003 Irish Film and Television Awards Best Director of a Feature Film Disco Pigs Nominated [24]
2002 British Independent Film Awards Douglas Hickox Award Disco Pigs Nominated [25]
2000 Irish Film and Television Awards Best Short Film The Case of Majella McGinty Nominated shared with producers Siobhan Bourke and Kate Lennon
1998 Film Institute of Ireland Young Irish Talent Award Won [7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Academy Awards Database Search | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". awardsdatabase.oscars.org. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  2. ^ a b "2004 Golden Globe Nominations" Archived 22 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Premiere. Accessed 3 November 2007.
  3. ^ a b Welkos, Robert W. (22 November 2007). "Trying to strike the perfect notes". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  4. ^ a b Macnab, Geoffrey. "My life as a pig", The Guardian, 12 November 2001. Accessed 2 November 2007.
  5. ^ a b c "Person of the Month Jim , Naomi & Kirsten Sheridan", Independent.ie, 22 February 2004. Accessed 2 November 2007.
  6. ^ a b c Kemp, Rebecca. "In America" Archived 19 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Close-UpFilm.com. Accessed 2 November 2007.
  7. ^ a b c d "Who's Who Directors: Kirsten Sheridan", IFTN.ie. Accessed 2 November 2007.
  8. ^ "Kirsten Sheridan Filmography", IMDb.com. Accessed 2 November 2007.
  9. ^ a b "Kirsten Sheridan Awards", IMDb.com. Accessed 2 November 2007.
  10. ^ Clarke, Donald. "August Rush",The Irish Times, 23 November 2007. Accessed 24 November 2007.
  11. ^ Weissberg, Jay. "August Rush", Variety, 22 October 2007. Then in 2012 Kirsten released another movie called "Dollhouse". Accessed 2 November 2007.
  12. ^ a b "talented seana's reaching for the stars". Irish Independent. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  13. ^ a b "Kirsten Sheridan's "Dollhouse" set for Berlin Panorama - The Irish Film & Television Network". iftn.ie.
  14. ^ Molumby, Deirdre (12 May 2014). "Kirsten Sheridan to Film Late Writer's Novel". IFTN.ie. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  15. ^ Falvey, Deirdre (3 October 2017). "Are these the Irish film stars of the future?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  16. ^ "Kirsten Sheridan Biography". IMDB.
  17. ^ McNary, Dave (6 November 2015). "Noomi Rapace Starring in Amy Winehouse Biopic". Variety. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  18. ^ Felperin, Leslie (12 February 2012). "Dollhouse". Variety. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  19. ^ Grove,AP, Martin A.; Grove, Martin A.; AP (21 November 2007). "First studio film means big time for Sheridan". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  20. ^ Matsumoto, Jon (28 November 2003). "'In America' is a Sheridan family affair". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  21. ^ Russell, Jamie (27 October 2003). "Gloucestershire Films - In America". BBC. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  22. ^ "'In America' is truly captivating". Daily Pilot. 19 December 2003. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  23. ^ "Winners 2003" Archived 14 December 2005 at archive.today, BFCA.org. Accessed 3 November 2007.
  24. ^ Stewart, Miriam. "News: Irish Film and Television Academy Awards", Arts Ireland, December 2002. Accessed 3 November 2007.
  25. ^ "2002 Nominations", BIFA.org.uk. Accessed 2 November 2007.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kirsten_Sheridan&oldid=1253370205"