Carney was born in
Dublin and was educated at
De La Salle College Churchtown and at
Synge Street CBS. He was bassist for the Irish rock band
The Frames between 1991 and 1993 and also directed some of their music videos. In addition to shooting music videos, Carney also wrote and directed two award-winning short films (
Shining Star and
Hotel) before making his first feature. With fellow film-maker Tom Hall, Carney wrote and directed
November Afternoon, his first feature film, in 1996. Despite a limited release, it was acclaimed as the "Film of the Year" by the
Irish Times. The low-budget drama, shot in black and white, tells the story of two couples whose relationships begin to crumble over an eventful weekend. Carney himself provided a jazz score for the soundtrack. After making a one-hour TV companion piece for the film entitled
Just in Time, Carney's next film was the edgy drama
Park, which premiered at the
Dublin Film Festival. Written and co-directed by Carney and Tom Hall once again, the drama about a girl who is abused by a
pedophile was released in 1999. It did not secure a wide release. Two years later, in 2001, he co-wrote and directed
On the Edge. The film starred
Cillian Murphy and
Stephen Rea and was released through
Universal Studios. He was awarded the Silver Hitchcock Award for
On the Edge at the 2001 Dinard Festival of British Cinema. The film, which was co-written by Daniel James, was released in the US with the title
Catch the Sun. Carney returned to TV writing and directing during the same year. He co-wrote and co-directed (with his brother Kieran Carney and Tom Hall) the successful RTÉ TV series
Bachelors Walk. The independently produced TV series was successfully exported to a number of markets. The series ran for three seasons. He also directs
The Modest Adventures of David O Doherty for RTÉ, starring Irish comedian O'Doherty and performed on the single "Orange", released by O'Doherty during the making of one of the series' episodes. In 2003, he co-directed and co-wrote
Zonad with Kieran Carney and Tom Hall. A story about an escaped convict who fools a whole Irish village into thinking he's a visitor from outer space, the film starred
Simon Delaney and Cillian Murphy,
Zonad was extremely low-budget and was never released. In 2006, Carney directed the feature movie
Once. A music drama, the movie stars
The Frames frontman
Glen Hansard and
Czech musician
Markéta Irglová. First released at the
Galway Film Fleadh,
Once had its official world release at the
Sundance Film Festival in January 2007 and won the World Cinema Audience Award in the category Dramatic. A low-budget affair shot for only $160,000,
Once was hugely successful, grossing $7 million worldwide in its first 3 months of release. Steven Spielberg is quoted as saying, "
Once gave me enough inspiration to last the rest of the year." When told of this during an interview with Sky News, Carney replied, "In the end of the day, he's just a man with a beard." Carney was wearing a beard at the time. As writer and director of
Once, Carney won the Most Promising Newcomer award in the
Evening Standard British Film Awards 2007. On the heels of
Once's success, Carney was able to work on a full-fledged version of
Zonad, which was released in March 2010. Carney developed the 2019 romantic comedy anthology series
Modern Love, also writing and directing several episodes. In March 2022, it was announced that Carney would replace
Kenneth Branagh as the director of an untitled
Bee Gees biopic for
Paramount Pictures. The film was removed from its scheduled date on the same day. However, in December it was announced that
Lorene Scafaria would be replacing Carney as the project's director. ==Filmography==