Sheridan Taylor Gibler Jr. (born May 21, 1970), known professionally as Taylor Sheridan, is an American writer, producer, director, and actor. He is best known as the co-creator of the television series Yellowstone and creator of its prequels 1883 (2021) and 1923 (2022).
Taylor Sheridan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sheridan Taylor Gibler Jr. May 21, 1970 Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Texas State University (dropped out, and later awarded honorary doctorate) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Spouse | Nicole Muirbrook (m. 2013) |
| Children | 1 |
Sheridan has written several films, including the screenplay for Sicario (2015), for which he was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Hell or High Water (2016), which was nominated for three other Oscars, including Best Picture. Sheridan also wrote and directed the 2017 neo-Western crime film Wind River and wrote the 2018 sequel to Sicario.
Sheridan got his start portraying Danny Boyd in Veronica Mars (2005–2007) as well as portraying David Hale in the FX television series Sons of Anarchy. He has since created several series for Paramount+, including the crime thriller Mayor of Kingstown, the crime drama Tulsa King (which he co-writes with Terence Winter), the espionage thriller Lioness and the drama Landman.
In 2021, Sheridan was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 2024, Sheridan was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame. He is an honorary graduate at Texas Christian University. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate by Texas State University.
Early life and education
Sheridan was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Several news articles have reported that he grew up on a ranch in Cranfills Gap, Texas, but he was raised in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of a cardiologist. His cowboy identity comes from his mother, who was originally from Waco and loved visiting her grandparents' ranch in that area. When Sheridan was eight years old, his mother insisted on buying a ranch in Cranfills Gap so that her children would "learn firsthand about the peaceful feeling of freedom in nature". Sheridan learned how to be a cowboy during his family's frequent visits to the Cranfills Gap ranch when he was growing up in the late 1980s. Meanwhile, he attended and graduated from R. L. Paschal High School, where he was "the rare weekend wrangler who was also a theater kid".
Sheridan attended Texas State University as a Theater Arts major but dropped out after his junior year. He later moved to Austin, where he supported himself by mowing lawns and painting houses. While looking for jobs in a shopping mall, Sheridan met a talent scout, who offered him the chance to go to Chicago and pursue an acting career. He later lived in New York City and Los Angeles during his time as an actor.
Career
Sheridan began his career in acting, appearing in small films and in recurring roles in television series like Veronica Mars, Walker, Texas Ranger and most notably, as David Hale in Sons of Anarchy. He made the transition into screenwriting after he turned 40. His first film as a screenwriter was Sicario, directed by Denis Villeneuve. It revolves around Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), an FBI agent who is enlisted to a government task force to bring down the leader of a powerful and brutal Mexican drug cartel. It also starred Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro. The film received critical acclaim, with a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and received a number of nominations, including a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Sheridan.
Sheridan wrote Comancheria after Sicario. Comancheria sold first but was stuck in development for quite a few years, appearing on the Black List survey of most liked screenplays not yet produced in 2012. It was later retitled Hell or High Water and was released in August 2016, starring Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine and Ben Foster, and again received critical acclaim. For his screenplay, Sheridan received a large amount of awards attention, earning BAFTA, Golden Globe Award, and Academy Award nominations.
The low-budget horror film Vile is credited as Sheridan's first film, but he does not consider the film his directorial debut, stating in a 2017 Rotten Tomatoes interview:
I would say this [Wind River] is my feature debut. A friend of mine raised – I don't know what he raised – 20 grand or something, and cast his buddies, and wrote this bad horror movie, that I told him not to direct. He was going to direct it and produce it, and he started and freaked out, and called and said, "Can you help me?" I said, "Yeah, I'll try." I kind of kept the ship pointed straight, and they went off and edited, and did what they did. I think it's generous to call me the director. I think he was try [sic] to say thank you, in some way. It was an excellent opportunity to point a camera and learn some lessons that actually benefited me on Wind River.
His second feature as director, and third as screenwriter, Wind River, starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2017. The film follows an FBI agent (Olsen) and a veteran game tracker (Renner) investigating a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation. The Weinstein Company had acquired the distribution rights during the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, but dropped the film prior to the Sundance premiere. However, the company later finalized its deal to distribute it.Wind River was widely released in the United States on August 18, 2017, following a brief limited release. Following Sicario and Hell or High Water, Wind River is the third installment of Sheridan's trilogy of "the modern-day American frontier".
On September 15, 2016, Deadline reported that Sheridan had been set by Sony Pictures and Escape Artists to script the American remake of the Matthias Schoenaerts drama-thriller film Disorder, a 2015 French film directed by Alice Winocour. Escape Artists' Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch and Tony Shaw were scheduled to produce the remake and David Beaubaire to oversee it for the studio.James Mangold was going to direct.
In 2017, Sheridan created the television series Yellowstone, starring Kevin Costner, which aired on Paramount Network for five seasons running beginning June 20, 2018. Spinoffs include 1883 and 1923 on Paramount+.
Sheridan wrote the sequel to Sicario, titled Sicario: Day of the Soldado, which was directed by Stefano Sollima and released in 2018. More recently, his overall deal with ViacomCBS was renewed.
In May 2019, it was announced Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema acquired distribution rights to the film Those Who Wish Me Dead with Sheridan as director. The film had a theatrical debut internationally in South Korea on May 5, 2021. In the United States, it was released on May 14, 2021.
Owing partly to the success of the Yellowstone franchise, Sheridan expanded with the subsequent TV productions Tulsa King starring Sylvester Stallone, which has been renewed through season 4, and Landman starring Billy Bob Thornton.
On June 23, 2025, Paulynne, Inc., which owns and controls all of famed broadcaster Paul Harvey's intellectual property, sued Paramount Global in New York federal court. The company sued Paramount for using a 90 second audio clip from The Rest of the Story in Landman without permission. Paramount used a segment about rising gas prices from Harvey's 2009 "Gas Crisis" episode in the opening of the Season 1 finale. The lawsuit accused Paramount of failing to obtain permission to use the clip as well as editing the clip to change Harvey's viewpoint with regard to government fossil-fuel policies and his interest in alternative fuels.
On June 5, 2025, it was announced that NOLA King, a spin-off series of Tulsa King, was in the works at Paramount+. The series will be set in New Orleans and will star Samuel L. Jackson in a similar role as the one Stallone plays in Tulsa King. Jackson appeared in the third season of Tulsa King.
On February 24th. 2026, it was reported by the Hollywood Reporter that Paramount+ had announced that the spinoff was moving away from New Orleans in favor of Texas and the name of the show changed to Frisco King instead of NOLA King. In addition it was announced that Taylor Sheridan had been tapped to write all 8 episodes of the first season.
On October 28, 2025, it was reported that Sheridan had signed a five-year overall deal with NBCUniversal, which will take effect after his current deals with Paramount expire in March 2026 for film, and 2028 for television. The deal was described as being a "coup" for the company, coming shortly after Skydance Media completed its acquisition of Paramount; CEO David Ellison had previously praised Sheridan as being a "singular genius", and had hoped that he would "call Paramount his home for as long as he wants to be telling stories."
Style
As an actor, Sheridan explained that the amount of expositional dialogue he read for television caused him to form an "allergy to exposition" in his writing. He has also said that he looks for "absurdly simple" plots to focus solely on character. He has cited the Coen brothers, Cormac McCarthy, and Larry McMurtry as influential to his writing.
Personal life
Sheridan has been married to actress and model Nicole Muirbrook since 2013. The pair have a son named Gus. They currently reside in Weatherford, Texas.
In May 2021, a buyer group represented by Sheridan purchased the 350,000-acre 6666 Ranch in west Texas. In 2025, Sheridan bought Cattlemen's Steak House in Fort Worth, Texas, with two business partners.
Filmography
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
Film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Vile | Yes | No | No |
| 2015 | Sicario | No | Yes | No |
| 2016 | Hell or High Water | No | Yes | No |
| 2017 | Wind River | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2018 | Sicario: Day of the Soldado | No | Yes | No |
| 2021 | Without Remorse | No | Yes | No |
| Those Who Wish Me Dead | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2023 | Finestkind | No | No | Yes |
| 2027 | F.A.S.T. † | No | Yes | Yes |
| TBA | Call of Duty † | No | Yes | Yes |
Television
| Year | Title | Creator | Director | Writer | Executive producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–2024 | Yellowstone | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2021–2022 | 1883 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2021–present | Mayor of Kingstown | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2022–2025 | 1923 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| 2022–present | Tulsa King | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| 2023 | Lawmen: Bass Reeves | No | No | No | Yes |
| 2023–present | Lioness | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2024–present | Landman | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2025 | The Road | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| 2026–present | Marshals | No | No | No | Yes |
| The Madison | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 2026 | Dutton Ranch † | No | No | No | Yes |
Acting roles
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Her Costly Affair | Chris | Television film |
| 2003 | White Rush | Tug / Douglas | |
| 2016 | Hell or High Water | Cowboy | Cameo |
| 2018 | 12 Strong | Brian |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Vernon | Episode: "War Zone" |
| 1997 | Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman | Corporal Winters | Episode: "A Matter of Conscience" |
| 1999 | Party of Five | Counterguy | Episode: "Haunted" |
| 2000 | Time of Your Life | Connor | Episode: "The Time They Decided to Date" |
| 2001 | V.I.P. | Dave | Episode: "A.I. Highrise" |
| 2002 | Strong Medicine | Tucker | Episode: "Positive" |
| 2003 | The Guardian | Tim Dohanic | Episode: "Back in the Ring" |
| 10-8: Officers on Duty | Shooter | Episode: "Brothers in Arms" | |
| 2004 | Star Trek: Enterprise | Jareb | Episode: "Chosen Realm" |
| NYPD Blue | Tim Lewis | Episode: "Old Yeller" | |
| 2005 | CSI: NY | Joel Banks | Episode: "Supply & Demand" |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Evan Peters | Episode: "Secrets and Flies" | |
| 2005–2007 | Veronica Mars | Danny Boyd | 5 episodes |
| 2008–2010 | Sons of Anarchy | Deputy David Hale | 21 episodes |
| 2011 | NCIS: Los Angeles | Navy Captain Jennings | Episode: "Enemy Within" |
| 2018–2024 | Yellowstone | Travis Wheatley | 12 episodes |
| 2022 | 1883 | Charles Goodnight | 2 episodes |
| 2024 | Lioness | Cody Spears | 3 episodes |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Title | Awards/Nominations |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Sicario | Nominated – Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay |
| 2016 | Hell or High Water | Nominated – Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay Nominated – Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Screenplay Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay Nominated – Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Writing Nominated – Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay Nominated – AACTA International Award for Best Screenplay |
| 2017 | Wind River | Nominated – Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding First-Time Feature Film |
| 2022 | Yellowstone | Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Nominated – Producers Guild of America Award for Best Episodic Drama |
| 1883 | Nominated – Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama | |
| 2023 | Special Ops: Lioness | Nominated – 2023 Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards for Best Writer |