Joe Carnahan
Birthdate: May 9, 1969
Birthplace: Sacramento, California, USA
Joe Carnahan (birthname: Joseph Aaron Carnahan) is a much in-demand director/writer/producer of action movies who launched his busy and successful Hollywood career as director/writer/producer/editor/co-star of the indie action comedy, Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane (1998), premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and released by Lionsgate. Carnahan continued with Lionsgate as director/writer of the crime thriller, Narc (2002), starring Jason Patric, Ray Liotta (who also produced), Busta Rhymes, and Chi McBride, and released by Paramount Pictures for a $12.6 million return.
Carnahan directed and wrote his biggest hit to date with the action thriller, Smokin’ Aces (2006), co-starring Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Common, Ray Liotta, Alicia Keys, Andy Garcia, Jeremy Piven, and Ryan Reynolds, and earning over $57 million for Universal Pictures. Carnahan was the story writer and executive producer on the sequel, Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball (2010). Carnahan was co-writer (with director Gavin O’Connor) of the crime drama, Pride and Glory (2008), co-starring Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, and Noah Emmerich, and grossing a poor $43.4 million for New Line Cinema.
Joe Carnahan joined the long-in-development movie version of The A-Team (2010) as director and co-writer (with Brian Bloom and Skip Woods), co-starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Quinton Jackson, Sharlto Copley and Patrick Wilson, produced in part by the show’s creator Stephen J. Cannell but delivering a disappointing $177 million gross (against an estimated $110 million budget) for distributor 20th Century Fox. Carnahan worked again with star Neeson as director/writer/producer of the survival thriller, The Grey (2011), co-starring Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, and James Badge Dale, produced in part by Ridley Scott and released by Open Road Films to a tune of $81 million.
Carnahan was writer only of the critically and commercially disappointing remake of Death Wish (2018), starring Bruce Willis and directed by Eli Roth, and then Carnahan in the same year was both co-writer (with director Ben Hernandez Bray) and producer of El Chicano (2018), regarded as the first Latino superhero movie, with Raul Castillo, Aimee Garcia, Sal Lopez, Kate del Castillo and George Lopez, but losing money ($1.4 million gross against $8 million costs) for producer WarParty Productions and distributor Briarcliff Entertainment.
Carnahan was again writer only (with co-writers Chris Bremner and Peter Craig) of the sequel directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilail Fallah, Bad Boys for Life (2020), co-starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, earning a robust $426.5 million worldwide, and then Carnahan stayed in the same crime comedy mode as director/writer/producer of Copshop (2021), co-written by Kurt McLeod, and co-starring Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo and Alexis Louder, but proving to be a box office disaster for distributor Open Road Films and Briarcliff Entertainment with a $6.8 million return against $43.5 million costs.
Joe Carnahan directed and wrote the action movie, Shadow Force (2025), pairing Kerry Washington (who also produced) with French movie star Omar Sy, with Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Method Man, and Mark Strong, and released by Lionsgate. Carnahan returned to his triple threat role as director/writer/producer for the survival thriller Not Without Hope (date to be announced), based on the book (by Nick Schuyler and Jeré Longman) about the tragic deaths of NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith, co-written by E. Nicholas Mariani, and co-starring Zachary Levi, Logan Kellogg, Josh Duhamel and JoBeth Williams, and released by Highland Film Group. Carnahan was producer or executive producer only on The Fourth Kind (2009), Wheelman (2017), Point Blank (2019), and Into the Ashes (2019).
Personal life
Joe Carnahan was born and raised in Sacramento, California by his parents. Carnahan has a brother, Matthew. Carnahan attended San Francisco State University, and later graduated from Sacramento State University, where he transferred. Carnahan was married to Christy Leis, whom he later divorced; Carnahan then married Lisa Carnahan; the couple has two children. Carnahan’s height is 6’ 2”. Carnahan’s estimated net worth is $13 million.
Known For
Joe Carnahan Movies
director
Previous (6)
- 2025 |
Not Without Hope
A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.
- 2025 |
Shadow Force
An estranged couple with a bounty on their heads must go on the run with their son to avoid their former employer, a unit of shadow ops that has been sent to kill them.
- 2021 |
- 2012 |
- 2010 |
The A-Team
A group of Iraq War veterans look to clear their name with the U.S. Military, who suspect the four men of committing a crime for which they were framed.
- 2002 |
actor
Previous (15)
writer
Previous (2)
- 2020 |
Bad Boys for Life
Miami detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett must face off against a mother-and-son pair of drug lords who wreak vengeful havoc on their city.
- 2018 |
Death Wish
Dr. Paul Kersey is an experienced trauma surgeon, a man who has spent his life saving lives. After an attack on his family, Paul embarks on his own mission for justice.
producer
Previous (1)
- 2019 |
El Chicano
A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
Facts About Joe Carnahan
Shingle: Joe Carnahan formed the production company, Gang of Three, with producer partner Chris Wagner, in early 2025.
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