Jim Sheridan (born 6 February 1949) is an Irish film director. A six-time Academy Award nominee, Sheridan is perhaps best known for his films My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, The Field and In America. Sheridan was born in Dublin, the son of Anna and Peter Sheridan, an actor and railroad worker. Sheridan was initially educated by the Irish Christian Brothers and later graduated from University College Dublin. He emigrated to Canada and then New York City in 1981. In 1979 Jim, or Shay Sheridan wrote two plays. The first, an Irish beggar's opera called "The Ha'penny Place", was staged in the Project Arts Centre, and the second, a piece of agitprop theatre called "The Last Post", was staged nearby in Connolly Hall. Interestingly, an actor called Jer O'Leary, a long time friend and political associate of Jim's, appeared in both these plays, and went on to appear in small parts in almost all of Sheridan's pictures. In 1989, he directed My Left Foot, which became a critical and commercial success and won Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker Academy Awards.