Sean McNamara

Sean McNamara (birthname: Sean Patrick McNamara) is a Christian-based filmmaker who has directed and produced several dozen features across a wide range of genres but with a distinctly family-oriented streak. McNamara’s feature debut as director/producer was the indie Hollywood Chaos (1989), and then McNamara directed (and co-starred) in Galgameth (1996), a children’s fantasy movie loosely based on Shin Sang-ok’s Pulsagari (1985), made while Shin was held captive in North Korea.

McNamara was the director/co-writer of the martial arts action movie, 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998), produced by Shin Sang-ok and starring Hulk Hogan, Loni Anderson, and Victor Wong. McNamara was once again director/producer of Race to Space (2001), co-starring James Woods, Annabeth Gish, William Devane, and William Atherton.

Sean McNamara continued his run as a director/producer with his first studio-backed movie, Raise Your Voice (2004), starring Hilary Duff, Rita Wilson, David Keith, and Rebecca De Mornay, and released by New Line Cinema to a poor return of $15 million against $15 million costs. McNamara then directed the universally panned Bratz (2007), with Nathalia Ramos, Janel Parrish, Lainie Kazan, and Jon Voight, which grossed a weak $26 million (on a $20 million budget) for Lionsgate.

McNamara took on the three roles of director/co-writer/producer with his first theatrical success with the surfing biopic, Soul Surfer (2011), starring Anna Sophia Robb, Helen Hunt, Dennis Quaid, and Carrie Underwood, and grossing $47 million globally for TriStar Pictures/Sony Pictures Releasing. McNamara then directed the high school drama, Spare Parts (2015), produced and starring George Lopez, with Jamie Lee Curtis, Esai Morales, David Del Rio, and Marisa Tomei, and lost money for distributor Lionsgate.

Sean McNamara, through his production company Brookwell McNamara Entertainment, was director of the controversial low-budget ($6 million) Civil War movie, Field of Lost Shoes (2015), starring Luke Benward, Lauren Holly, Jason Isaacs, Tom Skerritt, Keith David, and David Arquette. McNamara continued his interest in sports movies as director of the high school volleyball drama, The Miracle Season (2018), starring Erin Moriarty, Helen Hunt, and William Hurt, and earning $10 million for distributor LD Entertainment/Mirror Releasing.

McNamara directed and produced the long-delayed fantasy movie, The King’s Daughter (released in 2022, though filmed in 2014 and delayed for eight years), staring Pierce Brosnan, Kaya Scodelario, Benjamin Walker, William Hurt, Rachel Griffiths, and Fan Bingbing, and released to poor reviews and box office disaster ($2.2 million returns against a $40 million budget). McNamara was director of the $25 million, MJM Entertainment-produced biopic, Reagan (2024), starring Dennis Quaid in the title role, with C. Thomas Howell, Mena Suvari, Nick Searcy, Jon Voight, Penelope Ann Miller, Xander Berkeley, Lesley-Anne Down, and Kevin Dillon, and released wide by ShowBiz Direct.

Sean McNamara continued in the biopic genre as director-producer of a movie about burn victim John O’Leary, On Fire (date to be announced), with William H. Macy, John Corbett, and Joel Courtney, and based on O’Leary’s book, On Fire: The Seven Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life.