Mike Flanagan

Writer, Director

Birthdate: May 20, 1978 (48 Years Old)

Birthplace: Salem, Massachusetts, USA

Mike Flanagan (birthname: Michael Flanagan) is a horror movie specialist as a director, writer, producer, and editor, making his feature debut with the supernatural horror movie funded by Kickstarter, Absentia (2011), starring Courtney Bell, Katie Parker, and Dave Levine, and released by Phase 4 Films. Flanagan returned two years later to features as director/writer/editor of the Blumhouse Productions/WWE Studios-backed Oculus (2013), a feature version of his short film, Oculus: Chapter 3—The Man with the Plan (2006), and co-starring Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff and Rory Cochrane, and which premiered in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto Film Festival before a very successful $44 million-grossing release by Relativity Media. Flanagan had a very busy 2016, with three feature releases as director/writer/editor, starting with the slasher movie Hush (2016), co-written and starring Kate Siegel, with John Gallagher Jr. and Michael Trucco, and released by Netflix after premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival. Flanagan then turned to the fantasy horror sub-genre for his second 2016 feature, Before I Wake (2016), co-written by Jeff Howard, co-starring Kate Bosworth, Thomas Jane, Jacob Tremblay, Annabeth Gish, and Dash Mihok, and grossing $5 million after premiering at the Fantasia Film Festival. Flanagan’s third movie as director/writer/editor in 2016 was one of his biggest hits, the supernatural horror prequel Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), starring Elizabeth Reaser, Lulu Wilson, Annalise Basso and Henry Thomas, produced by Michael Bay and Jason Blum, and returning a strong $81.7 gross (on $12 million costs) for Universal Pictures. Flanagan’s first of three consecutive feature adaptations of Stephen King novels as director/writer/editor was the Netflix-streamed Gerald’s Game (2017), starring Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Thomas and Kate Siegel, followed by Flanagan’s much-anticipated but disappointing sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) and based on King’s sequel novel, Doctor Sleep (2019), starring Ewan McGregor (as adult Danny Torrance), Rebecca Ferguson, Kyleigh Curran and Cliff Curtis, and which lost money for producer/distributor Warner Bros. with a $72.4 million gross against $55 million costs. Mike Flanagan’s productive pace of seven movies in nine years slowed down considerably, returning to the big screen after a six-year absence with an adaptation as director/writer/producer/editor of Stephen King’s novella, The Life of Chuck (2025), starring Tom Hiddleston, Karen Gillan, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jacob Tremblay and Mark Hamill, and winning the Toronto Film Festival’s coveted People’s Choice Award before a wide release by Neon. Flanagan took on a non-Stephen King project when he was tapped to direct a planned new take on The Exorcist (2026), produced by Blumhouse Productions and Morgan Creek and released wide by Universal Pictures.

Personal Life
Movies
Facts

Personal life

Mike Flanagan was born and raised by his parents, Timothy (U.S. Coast Guard officer) and Laura Flanagan, in Salem, Massachusetts, and several other U.S. communities, including New York City’s Governors Island and Severn, Maryland, where he attended and graduated from Archbishop Spalding High School. Flanagan has a brother, actor/writer/producer Jamie Flanagan. Flanagan graduated from Towson University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Electronic Media & Film and a minor in Theatre. Flanagan was married to actor-producer Shea Cerveny from 2005 to 2010, when the couple divorced. Flanagan has been married to actor Kate Siegel since 2016; the couple has two birth children, Cody and Theodora, as well as Flanagan’s son, Rigby, from his previous relationship with actor Courtney Bell. Flanagan’s height is 5’ 11”.

Known For

The Life of Chuck

Director (2025)

Doctor Sleep

Director (2019)

Ouija: Origin of Evil

Director (2016)

Mike Flanagan Movies

Director

Collapse

Previous (4)

2025 |
The Life of Chuck
The Life of Chuck
2025
Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
A life-affirming, genre-bending story based on Stephen King's novella about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.
More Info
2019 |
Doctor Sleep
Doctor Sleep
2019
Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Years following the events of The Shining (1980), a now-adult Dan Torrance must protect a young girl with similar powers from a cult known as The True Knot, who prey on children with powers to remain immortal.
More Info
2016 |
Ouija: Origin of Evil
Ouija: Origin of Evil
2016
Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
In 1967 Los Angeles, a widowed mother's daughter tries to communicate with her late father through a Ouija board, but unleashes a demon instead.
More Info
-- |
Oculus

Editor

Collapse

Previous (3)

2019 |
Doctor Sleep
Doctor Sleep
2019
Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Years following the events of The Shining (1980), a now-adult Dan Torrance must protect a young girl with similar powers from a cult known as The True Knot, who prey on children with powers to remain immortal.
More Info
2016 |
Ouija: Origin of Evil
Ouija: Origin of Evil
2016
Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
In 1967 Los Angeles, a widowed mother's daughter tries to communicate with her late father through a Ouija board, but unleashes a demon instead.
More Info
-- |
Oculus

Writer

Collapse

Previous (3)

2019 |
Doctor Sleep
Doctor Sleep
2019
Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Years following the events of The Shining (1980), a now-adult Dan Torrance must protect a young girl with similar powers from a cult known as The True Knot, who prey on children with powers to remain immortal.
More Info
2016 |
Ouija: Origin of Evil
Ouija: Origin of Evil
2016
Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
In 1967 Los Angeles, a widowed mother's daughter tries to communicate with her late father through a Ouija board, but unleashes a demon instead.
More Info
-- |
Oculus

Facts About Mike Flanagan

Sober: Mike Flanagan has been sober since 2018. Guild Strong: Flanagan is an active member of several American film/television guilds, including the Directors Guild, the Producers Guild, the Writers Guild, the Motion Picture Editors Guild, and the Screen Actors Guild.

People Also Searched For