Jon Gunn
Birthdate: Jun 30, 1973
Birthplace: USA
Jon Gunn is a director/writer/producer who makes movies and TV shows with Christian themes. Gunn’s feature debut as director/writer/producer was the crime-themed Mercy Streets (2000), starring Eric Roberts, David White, Lawrence Taylor, and Stacy Keach.
Gunn was the director, producer, and editor of the comic, micro-budgeted non-fiction feature, My Date with Drew (2004), co-directed by and featuring Brian Herzlinger, and won several festival audience awards, including from the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Jon Gunn’s second feature narrative directorial credit was for the low-budget drama, Like Dandelion Dust (2009), starring Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper, Kate Levering, and Cole Hauser, which earned several festival audience awards and $352,000-plus at the box office.
Gunn’s third feature as director only was the Christian drama, Do You Believe? (2015), reuniting him with star Sorvino, Sean Astin, Delroy Lindo, Brian Bosworth, Cybill Shepherd, and Lee Majors, and grossing a strong $14.4 million box office on a $2.3 million budget. Jon Gunn followed this as co-director (with John W. Mann) and co-writer (with star Rick Gomez and Mann) of the comedy, The Week (2015), with Joelle Carter and Richard Speight Jr. Gunn directed another Christian-themed money-maker with The Case for Christ (2017), based on Lee Strobel’s book of the same title, with Mike Vogel, Erika Christensen, Frankie Faison, Faye Dunaway, and Robert Forster, and earning $17.6 million on a $3 million budget.
Jon Gunn shifted to the status of writer-producer (with partner Jon Erwin) under his production shingle Kingdom Story Company, with three consecutive features, starting with I Still Believe (2020), starring KJ Apa, Britt Robertson, Shania Twain, and Gary Sinise, and turning in a weak box office return for distributor Lionsgate; followed by the Kurt Warner biopic, American Underdog (2021), with Zachary Levi, Anna Paquin, and Dennis Quaid, but again not returning a profit for Lionsgate; and then the more successful ($54 million grossing) Jesus Revolution (2023), with Joel Courtney, Jonathan Roumie, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and Kelsey Grammer, and released by Lionsgate.
Gunn then returned to the director’s chair with the Lionsgate-released drama, Ordinary Angels (2024), co-written by Meg Tilly and Kelly Fremon Craig, and co-starring Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson, with Nancy Travis and Tamala Jones. Gunn, as writer-director, reunited with leading man Levi for the drama, The Unbreakable Boy (2025), based on a true story, and co-starring Meghann Fahy, Jacob Laval, and Patricia Heaton, and again released by Lionsgate.
Personal Details
Jon Gunn was born in the United States on June 30, 1973, and was raised by his parents. Gunn is married to actor Lisa Furst.
Filmography
director
Upcoming (1)
- 2025 | The Unbreakable Boy
The Unbreakable Boy
A young boy with both a rare brittle-bone disease and autism. But what makes him truly unique is his joyous, funny, life-affirming world view that transforms and unites everyone around him.
Previous (2)
- 2024 | Ordinary Angels
Ordinary Angels
Inspired by the incredible true story of a hairdresser who single-handedly rallies an entire community to help a widowed father save the life of his critically ill young daughter.
- 2017 | The Case for Christ
The Case for Christ
An investigative journalist and self-proclaimed atheist sets out to disprove the existence of God after his wife becomes a Christian.
actor
Previous (10)
- 2024 | Forty-Seven Days with Jesus
Forty-Seven Days with Jesus
A disconnected family finds hope and unity through a cinematic retelling of Jesus' final 47 days on Earth.
- 2021 | American UnderdogasProducer
American Underdog
The story of NFL MVP and Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, who went from stocking shelves at a supermarket to becoming an American Football star.
- 2019 | Apostles: Resurrection of Christ
- 2015 | Do You Believe?
- 2015 | The Weekas Producer
- 2012 | The Nutcracker
- 2009 | Like Dandelion Dustas Director
- 2004 | My Date with Drewas Producer
- 2002 | Magic 8 Ball
- 2000 | Mercy Streets
writer
Previous (2)
- 2023 | Jesus Revolution
Jesus Revolution
The true story of a national spiritual awakening in the early 1970s and its origins within a community of teenage hippies in Southern California.
- 2020 | I Still Believe
I Still Believe
The true-life story of Christian music star Jeremy Camp and his journey of love and loss that looks to prove there is always hope.
