Osgood Perkins
Birthdate: Feb 2, 1974
Birthplace: New York City, New York, USA
Osgood Perkins (birthname: Osgood Robert Perkins II) is a writer-director who has specialized in the horror genre, and had an earlier acting career which started when he was 12 years old and playing the young Norman Bates in the sequel, Psycho II (1983), starring father Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Meg Tilly, and Robert Loggia under Richard Franklin’s direction.
Perkins landed a string of acting roles starting in 1993 with the film version of John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation (1993), followed by Mike Nichols’ Wolf (1994), Legally Blonde (2001), Not Another Teen Movie (2001), Secretary (2002), Quigley (2003), Dead & Breakfast (2004), Erosion (2005), The Utah Murder Project (2006), La Cucina (2007), and the J.J. Abrams franchise reboot of Star Trek (2009).
Perkins shifted into filmmaking, first as a screenwriter and actor, with director/co-writer Nick Simon’s horror movie, Removal (2010), starring Billy Burke. Perkins collaborated with co-writer Nick Simon on the screenplay (co-written by director Tze Chun) for the crime thriller, Cold Comes the Night (2013), co-starring Alice Eve, Logan Marshall-Green, and Bryan Cranston.
Osgood Perkins returned briefly to acting for a role in director-writer Tristan Patterson’s crime biopic, Electric Slide (2014), but started a new phase of his career as director-writer with the psychological horror movie, The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015), starring Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton, and Lauren Holly, and which premiered at the Toronto film festival before a release by A24. Perkins’ third movie as co-writer with writer and director Nick Simon was the horror movie, The Girl in the Photographs (2015), the last film produced by Wes Craven and premiered at the Toronto Film Festival before Vertical Entertainment’s theatrical release.
Perkins was director-writer of the Gothic supernatural horror movie, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), co-starring Ruth Wilson, Bob Balaban, Lucy Boynton, and Paula Prentiss (as well as Perkins’ children James and Beatrix), and which premiered at the Toronto film festival, and released by Netflix. Perkins directed the only feature on which he was not a screenwriter with the Rob Hayes-written adaptation of the Brothers Grimm tale (reversing the original title), Gretel & Hansel (2020), co-starring Sophia Lillis, Sam Leakey, Alice Krige, and Jessica De Gouw, and earning a solid profit for United Artists Releasing with a $22 million gross (on $5 million costs).
Osgood Perkins took a break from filmmaking to be cast for a small role by filmmaker Jordan Peele in his remarkable horror sci-fi thriller, Nope (2022), with Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Michael Wincott, and Keith David, returning over $172 million for Universal Pictures. Perkins returned to the director-writer chair with his serial killer horror-thriller, Longlegs (2024), starring Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, and Michelle Choi-Lee, produced by C2 Motion Picture Group/Traffic Productions/Range Media Partners/Oddfellows Entertainment/Saturn Films and released by Neon (in U.S.) and Black Bear International (ex-U.S.).
Perkins was director-writer of the supernatural horror movie, The Monkey (2025), an adaptation of the Stephen King short story co-starring Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, and Christian Convery, with James Wan as a lead producer and released in the U.S. by Neon and internationally by Black Bear International.
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Personal Details
Osgood Perkins was born and raised in Manhattan and Los Angeles by actor-father Anthony Perkins and mother Berry Berenson (photographer, actor). Perkins has one brother, musician Elvis. Perkins attended and graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. Perkins attended New York University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Perkins was married to Sidney Perkins from 1999 to 2016; the couple has two children who are actors, James and Beatrix. Perkins’s height is 6’ 4”.
Filmography
director
Previous (2)
- 2024 |
- 2020 | Gretel & Hansel
Gretel & Hansel
A long time ago in a distant fairy tale countryside, a young girl leads her little brother into a dark wood in desperate search of food and work, only to stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil.
actor
Previous (12)
- 2022 |
- 2017 | The Blackcoat’s DaughterasWriter(as Osgood Perkins)
The Blackcoat’s Daughter
Two girls must battle a mysterious evil force when they get left behind at their boarding school over winter break.
- 2016 | I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the Houseas Writer(as Osgood Perkins)
- 2015 | The Girl in the Photographs
- 2013 | Cold Comes the Night
- 2010 | Removalas Henry Sharpe
- 2006 | The Utah Murder Projectas Detective Charlie DeSantis
- 2005 | Erosionas Steve
- 2004 | Dead & Breakfastas Johnny
- 2003 | Quigleyas Guardian Angel Sweeney
- 2002 | Secretaryas Jonathan
- 2001 | Legally Blondeas Dorky David
Some Facts About Osgood Perkins
Distinguished Family Tree: Osgood Perkins comes from a family of impressive accomplishments, including father and legendary actor Anthony Perkins, mother Berry Berenson (actor, photographer, model), aunt Marisa Berenson (actor, model), grandfather Osgood Perkins (actor), great-grandfather and influential art historian and art collector Bernard Berenson, great-grandmother Elsa Schiaparelli (fashion designer)—who was herself the great-niece of astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli.
AKA: Perkins also goes by the nickname “Oz,” which he’s used in some of his acting credits.
Like Father, Like Son: Osgood Perkins portrayed young Norman Bates—the character which his father brought memorably to life in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960)–in the 1983 sequel, Psycho II.
Influences: Perkins has noted that his major influences on his filmmaking are Roman Polanski’s horror classic, Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and filmmakers Tim Burton and Stanley Kubrick, whose masterpiece, Barry Lyndon (1975), co-starred Perkins’s aunt, Marisa Berenson.
