Kirk Jones
// Writer and Director
BAFTA-nominated writer-director of Waking Ned Devine and Nanny McPhee, whose self-financed I SWEAR won three BAFTAs including Best Leading Actor.
Kirk Jones was born in Bristol and attended Newport Film School, specialising in directing comedy, drama and TV commercials. He has directed commercials for Mother, BBH, Saatchi & Saatchi, Y&R, Burnett’s, AMV and others in London, Europe and the US, on campaigns that included Reebok, The National Lottery, HSBC and Vodafone. His Heinz campaign won a Silver Lion at Cannes, and he won awards at Creative Circle and BTA for his Reebok campaign.
After directing award-winning TV commercials he wrote and directed his first feature film, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA. ‘Proportionate to budget’, WAKING NED DEVINE was one of the highest-grossing films in the world in 1999 and won awards throughout the US and Europe.
In 2004 he directed his second feature, NANNY MCPHEE, for Working Title and Universal Pictures. Starring Emma Thompson and Colin Firth, it was a top ten highest-grossing film in the UK that year.
2010 saw the release of Kirk’s third feature film, which he wrote and directed. EVERYBODY’S FINE starred Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell and was produced by Miramax.
In 2012 Kirk directed Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Rock and Anna Kendrick in the romantic comedy WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING for Lionsgate.
In 2015 he directed the sequel to MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, produced by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Nia Vardalos.
In the summer of 2024 Kirk wrote, directed, produced and financed I SWEAR — the true story of John Davidson MBE, who has lived with Tourette’s for forty years — starring Robert Aramayo, Maxine Peake, Shirley Henderson and Peter Mullan. The film was released in the UK through StudioCanal in October 2025. It received a total of 14 BAFTA UK and BAFTA Scotland nominations, including Best British Film and Best Original Screenplay, and won Best Leading Actor for Robert Aramayo and Best Casting for Lauren Evans. It also won awards at the British Independent Film Awards, the London Critics’ Circle Awards and the Rolling Stone Awards for Best Film.
As founding chair, Kirk was instrumental in setting up The Mark Milsome Foundation in memory of his friend, a cameraman who was killed on a film set in Ghana in 2017, and remains its Patron. He wrote and directed the Mark Milsome online Film and TV Health and Safety Passport course to help prevent death and serious injury in the film and TV industry. The course has been adopted by Sony, Netflix, ITV, Warner Bros. and many film and TV schools.
Kirk is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, the Writers Guild of America, BAFTA and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
