James Wan

The Saw and Insidious co-creator who directed The Conjuring and built its universe.

James Wan, born 26 February 1977, is a Malaysian-born Australian filmmaker who co-created the Saw and Insidious franchises and created The Conjuring Universe, the highest-grossing horror franchise at over $2.9 billion. He founded the production company Atomic Monster.

Born in Kuching, Sarawak, he moved with his family to Perth at seven and graduated from RMIT in Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts in media in 1999.

Quick Facts

Born

26 February 1977

Birthplace

Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

Education

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (BA)

Occupation

Film director
screenwriter
film producer
film editor
comic book writer

Years active

1998–present

Spouse

Ingrid Bisu (2019)

Facts from the source article.

Background

With his friend Leigh Whannell he wrote a horror script drawn from their dreams and fears, shot an excerpt on a low budget to pitch it, and made his feature debut with Saw in 2004. The film grossed over US$103 million worldwide, more than $100 million above its budget, and the Saw films became the highest-grossing horror franchise in unadjusted dollars.

After the setbacks of Dead Silence and Death Sentence in 2007, he found new success with Insidious in 2010 and its 2013 sequel. The same year he directed the first Conjuring film, directed The Conjuring 2 in 2016 and produced the later films in the franchise.

Outside horror he directed Furious 7 in 2015 and the DC films Aquaman and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom; Furious 7 and Aquaman each passed $1 billion, making him the eighth director with two such films.