Actor

Leigh Whannell

Writing

Career Snapshot

Explained

These indicators come from TMDB. They are relative signals, not review ratings.

Acting credits

Established

Large and steady acting portfolio.

TMDB popularity

1.5

Low visibility

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Movies: 55Series: 3Crew credits: 30

TMDB ID: 2128

IMDb ID: nm1191481

Known for: Writing

Born: January 17, 1977

Age: 49

Place of birth: Melbourne, Australia

Gender: Male

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1993 - 2026

Years active: 34

Average TMDB rating: 6.34

Wikidata: Q471215

Other jobs

Executive Producer (9)Characters (6)Writer (4)Director (3)Screenplay (3)Story (3)Producer (1)Thanks (1)

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Biography

Leigh Whannell (/ˈli ˈwɑːnɛl/; born 17 January 1977) is an Australian filmmaker and actor. He has written multiple films that were directed by his friend James Wan, including Saw (2004), Dead Silence (2007), Insidious (2010), and Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013). Whannell made his directorial debut with Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) and has since directed three more films, Upgrade (2018), The Invisible Man (2020) and Wolf Man (2025). Whannell and Wan are the creators of the Saw franchise. Whannell wrote the first installment, co-wrote the second and third installments, was the producer or executive producer for all the films, and appeared as the Adam Stanheight character in three of the installments. He was also the writer of the Saw video game (2009) and co-writer of the film Cooties (2014).