Joe Carnahan

Carnahan was born in Dover, Delaware and spent his childhood in Shepherd, Michigan. His parents moved to Fairfield, California when he was a teenager. Carnahan graduated from Fairfield High School in 1987. He attended college at San Francisco State University for one year, but later transferred to California State University, Sacramento, and earned his B.A. in Filmography there. Carnahan eventually became employed in the Promotional Department of Sacramento's KMAX-TV, producing short films and television spots.

Carnahan's film Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane premiered in September 1997 at the Independent Feature Film Market, and later at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. He directed the 2002 Detroit-set thriller Narc, starring Ray Liotta and Jason Patric. Following Narc, he directed an entry in the BMW Films titled Ticker starring Clive Owen and Don Cheadle. In the early 2000s, Carnahan was attached to direct Mission: Impossible III, produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner, but he left the production, saying "you’re dealing with… a big movie star whose involvement tends to shape creative outcomes". It was later announced that J. J. Abrams would direct. It was also announced in October 2005 that Carnahan would be directing a film based on the life of convicted drug dealer Will Wright, but the project was abandoned. His next film, Smokin' Aces, was released in 2007. He also co-wrote the screenplay of Pride and Glory. He was attached to direct an adaptation of James Ellroy's novel White Jazz with George Clooney producing and starring, but Clooney later pulled out from the production and in 2009, Ellroy stated that all adaptations of the film were dead. In 2007, Carnahan penned Remarkable Fellows for Universal with Jason Bateman set to star, but the film never went into production. In 2010, Brian Bloom and Carnahan were then hired by Fox for the revamping of their long-gestating A-Team project, based on the hit '80's television series. He also showed interest in directing film adaptations for Garth Ennis' graphic novel Preacher and David Michelinie's Taskmaster. In 2011, he directed the thriller The Grey, starring Liam Neeson. Carnahan was one of the executive producers for NBC's The Blacklist, starring James Spader and Megan Boone, during its first season. He directed the pilot, and went on to co-write and direct the ninth episode, "Anslo Garrick". Carnahan also wrote the story for episode 16, "Mako Tanida". Carnahan and his brother Matthew wrote a script adapting of the Mark Millar comic book series Nemesis for film in 2013. He had also been attached to direct an adaptation of Mark Bowden's book Killing Pablo. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported on a profanity-laden email Carnahan sent to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Miramax executive Jonathan Glickman after exiting the studio’s planned remake of Death Wish, which Carnahan had been attached to write and direct. Carnahan exited the film, which released in 2018, but was credited as writer. Carnahan executive produced the NBC political thriller State of Affairs, starring Katherine Heigl and Alfre Woodard, which premiered November 17, 2014. He directed and co-wrote the pilot. In 2019, Carnahan co-wrote the film El Chicano with his friend Ben Hernandez-Bray, who directed it. Following mixed reviews of the film, Carnahan criticized film critics and journalists on social media, including Deadline Hollywood founder Nikki Finke. He deleted his Twitter account as a result of the controversy. In April 2022, Lionsgate Films revealed that Carnahan will direct Shadow Force, starring Kerry Washington and Omar Sy. In June 2023, Carnahan began filming Not Without Hope, a survival thriller adapted from the non-fiction book by Nick Schuyler and Jeré Longman and starring Zachary Levi and Josh Duhamel. The film was released in 2025. On June 18, 2024, it was announced that Carnahan would write and direct the crime thriller The Rip, starring Ben Affleck, who had previously worked with Carnahan on Smokin' Aces, and Matt Damon, with the project to be produced by Affleck and Damon's Artists Equity. On July 2, it was announced that the project had been acquired by Netflix. Production on the film began in October 2024. In 2026, the film was the subject of a defamation lawsuit filed by Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office police sergeants who claimed the film narrative too closely resembled details of their real 2016 drug-money seizure case and affected their professional reputations. In February 2025, Caranahan announced he would partner with White Label Productions CEO Chris Wagner to form Gang of Three, a film production company.

In January 2026, Carnahan was named in a civil lawsuit filed by his former partner, Michelle Crosby, who cited a "pattern of violence", alleging assault, sexual battery and stalking by Carnahan. Carnahan subsequently countersued Crosby, alleging harassment, assault and her refusal to return a car owned by him. The Hollywood Reporter published a statement from Carnahan that said that "It’s very upsetting that Joe and his family have been subjected to an endless retaliatory campaign of baseless allegations from an individual who has twice been arrested for domestic violence — against both [Carnahan] and his children and by [Crosby's] own mother."