John Carney was born in Dublin in 1972 and began his film career writing, producing and directing two award-winning short films (Shining Star and Hotel) and directing videos for Irish band The Frames, with whom he also played bass guitar from 1991 to 1994. His first feature film, November Afternoon – a self-financed black and white production – was voted Best Feature of 1997 by the Irish Times. His next film was an hour-long TV film Just in Time, starring Frances Barber and Gerard McSorley. The Irish Times voted it Best TV Film of 1998. He subsequently co-wrote and directed On the Edge, starring Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea, for Universal Studios. It won the Silver Hitchcock Award for Best Film at the 2001 Dinard Film Festival. He then co-created, wrote/directed three series of the hit RTÉ television series Bachelors Walk
John Carney was born in Dublin in 1972 and began his film career writing, producing and directing two award-winning short films (Shining Star and Hotel) and directing videos for Irish band The Frames, with whom he also played bass guitar from 1991 to 1994. His first feature film, November Afternoon – a self-financed black and white production – was voted Best Feature of 1997 by the Irish Times. His next film was an hour-long TV film Just in Time, starring Frances Barber and Gerard McSorley. The Irish Times voted it Best TV Film of 1998. He subsequently co-wrote and directed On the Edge, starring Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea, for Universal Studios. It won the Silver Hitchcock Award for Best Film at the 2001 Dinard Film Festival. He then co-created, wrote/directed three series of the hit RTÉ television series Bachelors Walk, which is the most successful independently produced drama in the history of Irish television.
In 2007, he wrote and directed the musical feature film Once, which won the Sundance Audience Award, an Independent Spirit award for best film, a National Board of Review award, and an Academy Award for Best Song. Once was later adapted into a stage musical and won Best Musical amongst seven other awards at the 2012 Tony’s. Carney’s next film, Begin Again, an original feature, which he wrote and directed for Judd Apatow/Exclusive, starred Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo and Hailee Steinfeld. It was released worldwide in 2014. His latest film, Sing Street, which he also wrote and directed, premiered at Sundance in 2016 and went on to be nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
Carney has most recently finished shooting his New York-set anthology Amazon Original series Modern Love, which he has written, directed and produced for Amazon Studios. The series has an all-star cast, including Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, Dev Patel and Andrew Scott.
