Benny Safdie
Birthdate: Feb 24, 1986
Birthplace: New York City, New York, USA
Benny Safdie (birthname: Benjamin Safdie) has been one half (with brother Josh) of one of the most exciting American indie filmmaking teams since 2007, when—after making several short films together in various capacities since 2004--the brothers Safdie made their first feature, The Pleasure of Being Robbed, co-edited by Benny with Josh as director/co-writer/producer/co-editor/cast member, and released by IFC Films after premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival.
Benny made his feature debut as co-director/co-writer/co-editor with the comedy-drama, Daddy Longlegs (2009)—originally titled Get Some Rosemary—starring Ronald Bronstein (who was also co-writer and co-editor), premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight parallel selection in the Cannes Film Festival and released by IFC Films.
Benny was director/editor of his only non-fiction film with Josh (who was co-director and cinematographer), Lenny Cooke (2013), profiling former high school basketball player of the same name, premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival and released by distributor Under the Milky Way. Benny returned to narrative filmmaking as co-director (with Josh) and co-editor (with Ronald Bronstein, who also co-wrote) of Heaven Knows What (2014), based on Mad Love in N.Y.C., the unpublished memoir of lead actor Arielle Holmes, with Caleb Landry Jones as co-lead, premiering in the Venice Film Festival’s Orrizonte section and released by RADiUS.
Benny Safdie was once again co-director (with Josh) and co-editor (with Ronald Bronstein) as well as co-lead actor opposite lead Robert Pattinson in the tense crime drama, Good Time (2017), with Buddy Duress, Taliah Lennice Webster, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Barkhad Abdi, launching in the Palme d’Or competition at the Cannes Film Festival and released by A24 to a $4 million gross. Benny was co-director (with Josh)/co-writer (with Josh and Bronstein)/co-editor (with Bronstein) of their most successful and highest acclaimed comedy-drama, Uncut Gems (2019), starring Adam Sandler in arguably his career-best performance with LaKeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, and Eric Bogosian, premiering in the Telluride Film Festival and released by A24 (in the U.S.) and Netflix (international).
Benny made his first feature as a solo filmmaker apart from Josh (as director/writer/producer/editor), The Smashing Machine (2025), based on the life of wrestler and mixed martial artist Mark Kerr, portrayed by Dwayne Johnson, co-starring Emily Blunt and Ryan Bader, produced for $40 million and released by A24.
Benny Safdie was also a producer (with Josh) on director/writer/co-editor Owen Kline’s black comedy, Funny Pages (2022), starring Daniel Zolghadri and Matthew Maher, and which premiered in Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight parallel section and was produced/distributed by A24.
Benny has also maintained a developing career as an actor, often in supporting roles with world-class filmmakers: in director/writer/editor Dustin Guy Defa’s Person to Person (2017); in Hungarian director/co-writer Kornél Mundruczó’s and co-writer Kata Weber’s Pieces of a Woman (2020); as Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs in filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson’s comedy-drama, Licorice Pizza (2021); as a CIA agent in French filmmaker Claire Denis’ Stars at Noon (2022); in the Kelly Fremon Craig-directed Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (2023); as Edward Teller in filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023) and reuniting with Nolan as part of the cast of the big-screen version of Homer’s The Odyssey (2026).
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Personal life
Benny Safdie was born and raised in New York City by parents Amy and Alberto Safdie, and split his time with brother Josh between his father’s Queens home and his mother’s Manhattan home after the parents divorced. Benny attended Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School. Benny attended and graduated from Boston University College of Communication in 2008. Benny is married to Ava Safdie; the couple has two sons. Benny’s height is 6’ 1”.
Known For
Benny Safdie Movies
actor
Upcoming (3)
- 2026 |
The Odyssey
After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Circe along the way.
- 2026 |
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Sequel
asBowser Jr.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Sequel
After defeating Bowser and saving Brooklyn, Mario faces Wario and Bowser Jr.'s evil alliance. Now, alongside his friends and Yoshi, he must stop their plans for world domination.
- 2025 | The Smashing Machine
Previous (15)
- 2023 |
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
asHerb Simon
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Eleven-year-old Margaret moves from the city to the suburbs and starts to contemplate everything about life, friendship and adolescence. She relies on her mother, Barbara, who offers loving support, and her grandmother, Sylvia.
- 2022 | Stars at Noonas CIA Man
- 2022 |
Stars at Noon
asCIA Man
A young American journalist stranded in present-day Nicaragua falls for an enigmatic Englishman who seems like her best chance of escape. She soon realizes, however, that he may be in even greater danger than she is.
- 2021 |
Pieces of a Woman
asChris
When a young mother's home birth ends in unfathomable tragedy, she begins a year-long odyssey of mourning that fractures relationships with loved ones in this deeply personal story of a woman learning to live alongside her loss.
- 2020 | Pieces of a Womanas Chris
- 2017 | Meet the Filmmakers: Josh and Benny Safdie
- 2017 |
- 2017 |
Person to Person
asEugene
Follows a variety of New York characters as they navigate personal relationships and unexpected problems over the course of one day.
- 2014 | Heaven Knows What
- 2013 | Lenny Cooke
- 2011 | Buttons
- 2010 | The Surprise Tour
- 2009 | Daddy Longlegs
- 2008 | Yeastas Riverguy 2
- 2008 | The Pleasure of Being Robbed
director
Previous (2)
- 2025 |
- 2019 |
Uncut Gems
With his debts mounting and angry collectors closing in, a fast-talking New York City jeweler risks everything in hope of staying afloat and alive.
Facts About Benny Safdie
Physics Dreams: Benny Safdie originally wanted to be a physicist before he became interested in filmmaking.
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