Daniel Minahan

For the New Jersey Congressman, see Daniel F. Minahan.

Daniel Minahan (born 1962) is an American television director and filmmaker.

Daniel Minahan
Minahan at the Toronto Film Festival in 2024
Born	1962 (age 62–63)
Education	School of Visual Arts (BFA)
Occupation(s)	Television director, film director, writer
Years active	1996–present

Career

Minahan has directed several episodes of the HBO original series Six Feet Under, Deadwood, True Blood, The Newsroom and Game of Thrones; he has also directed episodes of the Peabody Award-winning miniseries ^[1] Fellow Travelers and The L Word and on Showtime and Grey's Anatomy on ABC. He also wrote and directed the independent film Series 7: The Contenders.

He was also the writer (and second unit director) for the 1996 film I Shot Andy Warhol.

Minahan joined the crew of the HBO western drama Deadwood as a director for the first season in 2004. The series was created by David Milch and focused on a growing town in the American West. Minahan directed the episodes "Suffer the Little Children"^[2] and "Mister Wu".^[3] He returned as a director for the second season in 2005 and helmed the episode "Advances, None Miraculous".^[4] He remained a director for the third and final season in 2006 and helmed the episode "A Two-Headed Beast".^[5] Minahan directed the 2019 film continuation of Deadwood.^[6]

The romantic drama On Swift Horses, directed by Minahan and based on the novel by Shannon Pufahl, had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2024, and was released in the US by Sony Pictures Classics on April 25, 2025.

Personal life

Minahan majored in Film and Video at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1987.^[7] He is gay.^[8]

Filmography

TV Director

Year	Show	Season	Episode	Episode title	Notes
2003	Six Feet Under	3	10	"Everyone Leaves"[9]
2004	The L Word	1	5	"Lawfully"
	Deadwood	1	8	"Suffer the Little Children"[2]
			10	"Mister Wu"[3]
	Six Feet Under	4	4	"Can I Come Up Now?"[10]
2005	The L Word	2	1	"Life, Loss, Leaving"
	Six Feet Under	5	5	"Eat a Peach"[11]
			9	"Ecotone"[12]
	Commander in Chief	1	5	"First... Do No Harm"
	Deadwood	2	10	"Advances, None Miraculous"[4]
	Grey's Anatomy	2	11	"Owner of a Lonely Heart"
2006			25	"17 Seconds"
	Deadwood	3	5	"A Two-Headed Beast"[5]
	Grey's Anatomy	3	1	"Time Has Come Today"
			7	"Where the Boys Are"
2007	The Black Donnellys	1	11	"The Black Drop"
	Big Love	2	1	"Damage Control"
	John from Cincinnati	1	10	"His Visit: Day Nine"
	Grey's Anatomy	4	3	"Let the Truth Sting"
2008	Swingtown	1	9	"Swingus Interruptus"
	Life on Mars	1	6	"Tuesday's Dead"
	True Blood	1	5	"Sparks Fly Out"
2009		2	1	"Nothing But the Blood"
			11	"Frenzy"
	The Good Wife	1	4	"Fixed"[13]
	House Rules				TV film
2010	True Blood	3	1	"Bad Blood"
2011		4	5	"Me and the Devil"
			8	"Spellbound"
	Game of Thrones	1	6	"A Golden Crown"
			7	"You Win or You Die"
			8	"The Pointy End"
2012	The Newsroom	1	5	"Amen"
	True Blood	5	1	"Turn! Turn! Turn!"
2013	Game of Thrones	3	1	"Valar Dohaeris"
			2	"Dark Wings, Dark Words"
	Ray Donovan	1	11	"Bucky Fuckin' Dent"
	Homeland	3	11	"Big Man in Tehran"
2014	Marco Polo	1	5	"Hashshashin"
			6	"White Moon"
2016		2	1	"Hunter and the Sable Weaver"
			3	"Measure Against the Linchpin"
2017	House of Cards	5	1	"Chapter 53"
			2	"Chapter 54"
2018	American Crime Story	2	4	"House by the Lake"
			5	"Don't Ask Don't Tell"
			9	"Alone"
2019	Deadwood: The Movie				TV film
2020	Hollywood	1	2	"Hooray For Hollywood: Part 2"
	Ratched	1	8	"Mildred and Edmund"
2021	Halston	1	1	"Becoming Halston"
			2	"Versailles"
			3	"The Sweet Smell of Success"
			4	"The Party's Over"
			5	"Critics"
2022	The Girl from Plainville	1	8	"Blank Spaces"
2023	Fellow Travelers	1	1	"You're Wonderful"	[14]
			2	"Bulletproof"

Film

• I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) (co-writer with director Mary Harron)
• Series 7: The Contenders (2001) (writer and director)
• On Swift Horses (2024) (director)