Edgar Wright
Birthdate: Apr 18, 1974
Birthplace: Poole, Dorset, England, UK
Edgar Wright (birthname: Edgar Howard Wright) is a British director/writer/producer deeply influenced by American genre movies whose innovative “Three Flavours Cornetto” trilogy helped launch a new era of horror-comedy, debuting with his only Western comedy, A Fistful of Fingers (1995), made on a barebones budget by his Wrightstuff Pictures and co-starring Graham Low, Oli van der Vijver and Nicola Stapleton, and released in the U.K. by Blue Dolphin Film Distribution and premiered in 2015 by Cinefamily in Los Angeles.
Wright began the “Three Flavours Cornetto” trilogy with star/co-writer Simon Pegg with the zombie comedy hit, Shaun of the Dead (2004), co-starring Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Nick Frost, Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton, grossing $38.7 million for U.S. distributor Rogue Pictures, producer/international distributor Universal Pictures, with producers StudioCanal/Working Title Films/WT2 Productions/Big Talk Productions.
Wright, again with star/co-writer Simon Pegg, surpassed the success of their previous movie with the second in their comedy trilogy (spoofing cop buddy movies), Hot Fuzz (2007), again co-starring Nick Frost, with Jim Broadbent, Paddy Considine, Timothy Dalton, Bill Nighy, Billie Whitelaw, Edward Woodward, Olivia Colman, Martin Freeman and Rafe Spall (with uncredited roles for Steve Coogan, Cate Blanchett and filmmaker Peter Jackson), earning a robust $80.7 million for distributors Rogue Pictures (U.S.)/Universal Pictures (International)/StudioCanal (France, and also a producer with Working Title Pictures and Big Talk Productions.
Wright was director/co-writer/producer of the cult masterpiece, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), adapted with co-writer Michael Bacall from Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series, starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Brandon Routh and Jason Schwartzman, premiering at the Fantasia Fest and while grossing only $51.7 million for distributor Universal Pictures, the movie went on to become a critical favorite and an enduring cult hit that eventually led to the 2023 animated TV series, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
Edgar Wright, in between his own movie, received a co-writing credit (with Steven Moffat and Joe Cornish) on director/producer Steven Spielberg’s live-action/motion-capture animation big-screen version of Hergé’s Belgian comic strip, The Adventures of Tintin (2011), also produced by Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy, co-starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis and Daniel Craig, and grossing a solid $374 million for Paramount Pictures.
Wright concluded his “Three Flavours Cornetto” trilogy with the alien invasion spoof, The World’s End (2013), once again starring and co-written by Simon Pegg with co-star Nick Frost, with a supporting cast of Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, Rosamund Pike, Pierce Brosnan and Bill Nighy, and earning $46 million for Focus Features (U.S.)/Universal Pictures (International) and producers Relativity Media/Working Title Films/Big Talk Pictures/Dentsu.
Wright took co-writer (with co-writer and frequent collaborator Joe Cornish, Adam McKay and star Paul Rudd) and executive producer credits for the successful MCU entry (12th in the Marvel Studios opus), Ant-Man (2015), with Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Pena, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian and Michael Douglas under Peyton Reed’s direction, and delivering a terrific $519.3 million gross for Disney/Marvel. Wright was, for the first time sole director/writer of the lively action movie, Baby Driver (2017), starring Anson Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Jon Hamm, Eiza Gonzalez and Jamie Foxx, premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival and grossing a powerful $227 million for TriStar Pictures/Sony Releasing, and nominated for three Oscars.
Edgar Wright was director/producer of his first non-fiction feature, the greatly entertaining rock music portrait about Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks fame, The Sparks Brothers (2021), premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and released by Focus Features (U.S.)/Universal Pictures (International), with on-camera appearances by Wright, Beck, Jane Wiedlin, Flea, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Thurston Moore, John Taylor, Pamela Des Barres, Todd Rundgren, Giorgio Moroder, Neil Gaiman, Jason Schwartzman, Mike Myers, Fred Armisen, Patton Oswalt, Simon Pegg (providing the voice of John Lennon) and Nick Frost (voice of Ringo Starr).
Wright was director/story writer/co-screenwriter (with Krysty Wilson-Cairns)/producer of the psychological horror movie, Last Night in Soho (2021), starring Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Rita Tushingham, Terence Stamp and Diana Rigg (in her final film role), premiering at the Venice Film Festival and one of Wright’s only box office duds with a weak $23 million gross for distributor/producer Focus Features (North America)/Universal Pictures (International).
Wright was director/co-writer (with Michael Bacall)/producer of the second adaptation of the 1982 Stephen King novel, The Running Man (2025), starring Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera and Emilia Jones, produced with Wright by his regular producer partner Nira Park and Simon Kinberg and released wide by Paramount Pictures.
Edgar Wright Photos and Videos
Personal life
Edgar Wright was born in Poole in the southern British county of Dorset and was raised in Poole and in Wells in Somerset County by his parents. Wright has one brother named Oscar, an animation art director. Wright attended and graduated with an ND degree in Audio-Visual Design from the Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design (now Arts University Bournemouth), from which he also received an Honorary Fellowship in 2018. Wright dated actor Anna Kendrick from 2008 to 2013. Wright’s height is 5’ 7”. Wright’s estimated net worth is $20 million.
Known For
Edgar Wright Movies
director
Previous (5)
- 2025 |
The Running Man
A man joins a game show in which contestants, allowed to flee anywhere in the world, are pursued by "hunters" hired to kill them.
- 2021 |
Last Night in Soho
Aspiring fashion designer Eloise is mysteriously able to return to 1960s London, where she encounters dazzling wannabe singer Sandie. But the glamour is not as it seems, and the dreams of the past crack and splinter into something darker.
- 2017 |
Baby Driver
Coerced into working for a crime boss, a young getaway driver must face the music when a doomed heist threatens his life, love, and freedom.
- 2010 |
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
In a magically realistic version of Toronto, a young man must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes one by one in order to win her heart.
- 2004 |
Shaun of the Dead
The uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronics salesman and his layabout roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.
actor
Previous (9)
- 2021 | What the Hell Is It This Time? Sparks Live in London
- 2021 |
The Sparks Brothers
asSelf, also narrator and interviewer
A musical odyssey through five decades with Ron Mael and Russell Mael celebrating the legacy of the band Sparks.
- 2014 | Out of Print
- 2013 | The World's End
- 2011 | Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
- 2011 | The Adventures of Tintin
- 2007 | Hot Fuzz
- 2007 | Grindhouse
- 1995 | A Fistful of Fingers
Facts About Edgar Wright
Influential: Edgar Wright has cited the movies which most influenced him as a filmmaker: An American Werewolf in London (1981), Raising Arizona (1987), Run Lola Run (1998), Dirty Harry (1971), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Hard Boiled (1992), The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).
Guest Programmer: Wright has been a guest programmer at Los Angeles’s repertory cinema, the New Beverly Cinema, where he arranged screenings of some of his favorite movies, including those listed above.
People Also Searched For
