John Carney (director) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids John Carney
Carney at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival
Born	1972 (age 52–53) Dublin, Ireland
Occupation	Film director, film producer, screenwriter, composer, musician

John Carney (born in 1972) is an Irish film director, producer, writer, and musician. He is well-known for making musical films. Some of his most famous works include the movies Once, Begin Again, and Sing Street. He also helped create the Irish TV show Bachelors Walk and was a main person behind the TV series Modern Love on Amazon Prime Video.

John Carney's Life and Career

John Carney grew up in Dublin, Ireland. He went to school at De La Salle College Churchtown and Synge Street CBS.

Early Music and Film Work

Before becoming a famous director, Carney was a musician. From 1991 to 1993, he played bass guitar for the Irish rock band The Frames. He even directed some of their music videos.

Carney started his film career by making short films. He wrote and directed two award-winning short movies called Shining Star and Hotel. In 1996, he made his first full-length movie, November Afternoon, with fellow filmmaker Tom Hall. This black-and-white drama was praised by the Irish Times as the "Film of the Year." Carney also wrote the jazz music for the film.

His next film was Park, released in 1999. He co-wrote and co-directed it with Tom Hall.

Making Movies and TV Shows

In 2001, Carney co-wrote and directed On the Edge, which starred actors Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea. This film won the Silver Hitchcock Award at the 2001 Dinard Festival of British Cinema.

Around the same time, Carney also worked on TV. He helped create, write, and direct the popular Irish TV series Bachelors Walk. This show was very successful and ran for three seasons.

In 2006, Carney directed the movie Once. This musical drama starred The Frames frontman Glen Hansard and Czech musician Markéta Irglová. The movie was made with a very small budget of only $160,000 but became a huge success, earning $7 million worldwide in just three months. Once won the World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007. Famous director Steven Spielberg even said that Once gave him "enough inspiration to last the rest of the year." For his work on Once, Carney won the Most Promising Newcomer award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards in 2007.

After the success of Once, Carney was able to make a full version of an earlier film idea, Zonad, which was released in 2010.

In 2016, he wrote and directed another musical film called Sing Street. This movie was also very well-received by critics.

Carney also developed the romantic comedy TV series Modern Love, which started in 2019. He wrote and directed several episodes for the show.

In 2022, it was announced that Carney would direct a movie about the Bee Gees for Paramount Pictures. However, later that year, another director, Lorene Scafaria, took over the project.

Filmography

Films Directed by John Carney

Television Shows Directed by John Carney