M. Night Shyamalan filmography

Indian-American filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan began his career in 1992 with the student film Praying with Anger, which he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in. He then wrote the screenplays for the comedy movies Wide Awake (1998; also directed) and Stuart Little (1999). In 1999, he rose to prominence for writing and directing the supernatural movie The Sixth Sense, for which he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.^[1] He then wrote, directed, and produced the superhero movie Unbreakable, the first entry in the Eastrail 177 Trilogy followed by Split in 2016 and Glass in 2019.^[2]

Shyamalan, pictured in 2008 at a press conference for The Happening

After Unbreakable, Shyamalan made Signs (2002) and The Village (2004), which increased his popularity with moviegoers and further established him as a filmmaker known for his twist endings.^[3][4] The next decade, however, saw a series of critical misfires with Lady in the Water (2006), The Happening (2008), The Last Airbender (2010), and After Earth (2013).^[5] In 2015, he partnered with Universal Pictures for The Visit, a commercial success that made $98.5 million on a $5 million budget.^[6] Universal then released his films Split, Glass, Old (2021), and Knock at the Cabin (2023).^[7] Shyamalan worked with Warner Bros. Pictures for his latest film, Trap (2024).^[8][9]

Films

M. Night Shyamalan's film credits

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes	Ref(s)
1992	Praying with Anger	Yes	Yes	Yes	Student film	[10]
1998	Wide Awake	Yes	Yes	No		[11]
1999	She's All That	No	Uncredited rewrites[note 1]	No	Co-screenwriter with R. Lee Fleming Jr.	[12]
	The Sixth Sense	Yes	Yes	No		[13]
	Stuart Little	No	Yes	No	Co-screenwriter with Greg Brooker. Based on the novel of the same name by E. B. White.	[14]
2000	Unbreakable	Yes	Yes	Yes		[15]
2002	Signs	Yes	Yes	Yes		[16]
2004	The Village	Yes	Yes	Yes	Uncredited executive soundtrack producer	[17]
2006	Lady in the Water	Yes	Yes	Yes		[18]
2008	The Happening	Yes	Yes	Yes		[19]
2010	The Last Airbender	Yes	Yes	Yes	Based on the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko	[20]
	Devil	No	Story	Yes	Screenplay written by Brian Nelson	[21]
2013	After Earth	Yes	Yes	Yes	Co-screenwriter with Gary Whitta. Based on a story by Will Smith.	[22]
2015	The Visit	Yes	Yes	Yes		[23]
2016	Split	Yes	Yes	Yes		[24]
2019	Glass	Yes	Yes	Yes		[25]
2021	Old	Yes	Yes	Yes	Based on the graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Lévy [fr] and Frederik Peeters	[26]
2023	Knock at the Cabin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Co-screenwriter with Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman. Based on the novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul G. Tremblay.	[27]
2024	The Watchers	No	No	Yes	Based on the novel of the same name by A. M. Shine	[28]
	Trap	Yes	Yes	Yes		[29]
	Caddo Lake	No	No	Yes		[30]

Notes

1. R. Lee Fleming, Jr. received sole writing credit for the film. In 2002, Shyamalan said he polished the screenplay while adapting Stuart Little and writing The Sixth Sense. Director Robert Iscove confirmed this claim in the film's audio commentary.

Television

M. Night Shyamalan's television credits

Year	Title	Director	Executive producer	Notes	Ref(s)
2015–16	Wayward Pines	Yes	Yes	Based on the Wayward Pines novels by Blake Crouch. Episode: "Where Paradise Is Home"	[31]
2019–23	Servant	Yes	Yes	Episodes: "Reborn", "Jericho", "2:00", "Donkey", "Awake"	[32]

Acting credits

M. Night Shyamalan's acting credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
1992	Praying with Anger	Dev Raman		[10]
1999	The Sixth Sense	Dr. Hill		[33]
2000	Unbreakable	Jai	Credited as "stadium drug dealer"	[33]
2002	Signs	Ray Reddy		[33]
2004	The Village	Jay	Credited as "guard at desk"	[33]
2006	Lady in the Water	Vick Ran		[33]
2007	Entourage (Season 4)	Himself	Episode 4: "Sorry, Harvey"	[34]
2008	The Happening	Joey	Played a voice on a phone call made by a character	[33]
2010	The Last Airbender	Firebender	Uncredited	[35]
2016	Split	Jai		[33]
2019	Glass	Jai		[33]
2019, 2020	This Is Us (Season 4)	Himself	Episode 2: "The Pool: Part Two" Episode 12: "A Hell of a Week: Part Two"	[36][37]
2019	Servant (Season 1)	Delivery man	Episode 1: "Reborn"	[38]
2021	Old	Hotel van driver		[39]
2023	Knock at the Cabin	Infomercial co-host		[40]
2024	Trap	Lady Raven's uncle		[41]

Critical and public response

Critical and public response to films from M. Night Shyamalan

Year	Film	Rotten Tomatoes[42]	Metacritic[43]	CinemaScore[44]
1992	Praying with Anger	—	—	—
1998	Wide Awake	45% (33 reviews)	—	—
1999	The Sixth Sense	86% (158 reviews)	64 (35 reviews)	A–
2000	Unbreakable	70% (173 reviews)	62 (31 reviews)	C
2002	Signs	74% (236 reviews)	59 (36 reviews)	B
2004	The Village	43% (218 reviews)	44 (40 reviews)	C
2006	Lady in the Water	25% (212 reviews)	36 (36 reviews)	B–
2008	The Happening	17% (185 reviews)	34 (38 reviews)	D
2010	The Last Airbender	5% (192 reviews)	20 (33 reviews)	C
2013	After Earth	12% (213 reviews)	33 (41 reviews)	B
2015	The Visit	68% (229 reviews)	55 (34 reviews)	B–
2016	Split	77% (307 reviews)	62 (47 reviews)	B+
2019	Glass	36% (396 reviews)	43 (53 reviews)	B
2021	Old	50% (313 reviews)	55 (52 reviews)	C+
2023	Knock at the Cabin	68% (235 reviews)	63 (54 reviews)	C
2024	Trap	57% (232 reviews)	52 (46 reviews)	C+

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by M. Night Shyamalan

References

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29. D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 16, 2023). "M. Night Shyamalan Signs Multi-Year First-Look Deal at Warner Bros, Sets Trap At Studio". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 17, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
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39. Desta, Yohana (July 23, 2021). "How M. Night Shyamalan's Old Updates the Graphic Novel Sandcastle". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on July 24, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
40. Abdulbaki, Mae (February 6, 2023). "Where To Spot M. Night Shyamalan's Cameo In Knock At The Cabin". Screen Rant. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
41. Papadopoulos, Charles (August 3, 2024). "M. Night Shyamalan's Cameo In Trap Explained". Screen Rant. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
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43. "M. Night Shyamalan". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
44. "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Retrieved February 12, 2021. Each film's score can be accessed from the website's search bar.

External links

• M. Night Shyamalan filmography at IMDb