Hossein Amini

Hossein Amini (born January 18, 1966) is an Iranian-born British screenwriter and film director whose career has been closely tied to literary adaptation and character-driven cinema. Working steadily since the early 1990s, Amini became known for bringing complex novels to the screen with clarity, tension, and emotional precision.

He earned major international attention for his screenplay of The Wings of the Dove (1997), which drew multiple award nominations, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. The recognition cemented his reputation as a writer capable of translating classic material into modern, cinematic storytelling.

Amini later received the Austin Film Critics Association award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Drive (2011), adapted from James Sallis’s novel and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. His writing helped shape the film’s spare dialogue, controlled mood, and simmering suspense.

Expanding beyond writing, Amini made his feature directorial debut with The Two Faces of January, which he also scripted, adapting Patricia Highsmith’s novel. He has also appeared as himself in The Third Man: A Filmmaker's Influence, reflecting his standing within film culture and screenwriting craft.