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Benny Safdie

Benjamin Safdie (born February 24, 1986) is an American filmmaker and actor, most known for his film collaborations with his elder brother, Josh, in Heaven Knows What (2014), Good Time (2017), which he also starred in, and Uncut Gems (2019).

Benny Safdie
Safdie at the 2025 Venice Film Festival
Benjamin Safdie (1986-02-24) February 24, 1986New York City, U.S.
Boston University (BS)
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2007–present
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Ava Rawski (m. 2013)
2
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Josh Safdie (brother)
Moshe Safdie (great-uncle)
Oren Safdie (first cousin once removed)
Dov Charney (first cousin once removed)

Benjamin Safdie (born February 24, 1986) is an American filmmaker and actor, most known for his film collaborations with his elder brother, Josh, in Heaven Knows What (2014), Good Time (2017), which he also starred in, and Uncut Gems (2019).

Safdie's career additionally includes co-creating, writing, and acting in the satirical series The Curse (2023) with comedian Nathan Fielder, and his solo directorial debut The Smashing Machine (2025), for which he won the Silver Lion at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival.

For his role in Good Time as Nick, Safdie was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male, and has since starred in Licorice Pizza (2021), Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (2023), Oppenheimer (2023), Happy Gilmore 2 (2025), and provided the voice of Bowser Jr. in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026).

Safdie's parents are Amy and Alberto Safdie. He is of Syrian Jewish descent on his father's side, and Ashkenazi Jewish descent on his mother's side. He was raised in New York. When their parents divorced, he and brother Josh divided their time between their father in Queens and their mother and stepfather in Manhattan. He attended Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School and graduated from the Boston University College of Communication in 2008.

Safdie at the 2025 New York Film Festival

The Safdies' first feature was the 2009 film Daddy Longlegs: they also wrote the screenplay and edited the film together. The film was showcased in the Directors' Fortnight at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In 2013, they debuted the documentary film Lenny Cooke at the Tribeca Film Festival, a documentary they became attached to after Cooke approached them to review the footage. In 2014, the pair premiered their next film Heaven Knows What at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. In February 2016, the brothers began filming their crime thriller film Good Time, which Benny starred in alongside Robert Pattinson, in New York City. It premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or. Benny, for his performance, was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male.

Uncut Gems, Josh and Benny's next film, starred Adam Sandler, Lakeith Stanfield and Julia Fox; Martin Scorsese was executive producer. The brothers won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Director, and Benny shared the Independent Spirit Award for Best Editing with Ronald Bronstein, with whom he has co-edited all the Safdie brother films.

Safdie and Nathan Fielder co-created the Showtime series The Curse, which premiered in November 2023. The show, in which they also starred, received critical acclaim, and Safdie earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series.

Safdie then, in his first directorial endevour without his brother and his first solo writing credit, directed the MMA themed film The Smashing Machine, starring Dwayne Johnson as former wrestler and MMA fighter Mark Kerr. The film premiered and the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, where Safdie won the Silver Lion for Best Direction. The film received a theatrical release in October 2025 by A24.

Safdie is currently attached as writer, director and producer to a film adaptation of Daniel Pinkwater's Lizard Music for Amazon MGM Studios' United Artists, reteaming with Johnson.

In 2017, Safdie began taking on performances not directed by himself or Josh, appearing in a role in the film Person to Person. In 2020, he appeared in Pieces of a Woman, and in 2021 he took on a significant supporting role in the Paul Thomas Anderson film Licorice Pizza.

In 2022, Safdie appeared in Claire Denis' romantic thriller Stars at Noon, and as Nari in the Disney+ miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi. In 2023, he starred in the film adaptation Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret., and appears as Edward Teller in Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan.

In 2025, he appeared in Happy Gilmore 2, and is set to reunite with Nolan on The Odyssey in 2026. He played the voice of Bowser Jr. in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

Safdie is Jewish. His father was born in Italy and raised in France, and is of Sephardic-Jewish and Syrian-Jewish descent. His mother is of Russian-Jewish descent. His great uncle is architect Moshe Safdie. His cousin once removed is playwright Oren Safdie.

He is married to Ava Safdie (née Rawski), with whom he has two sons.

Column 1	Column 2
†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Editor	Producer	Collaboration with Josh
2008	The Pleasure of Being Robbed	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
2009	Daddy Longlegs	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
2013	Lenny Cooke	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
2014	Heaven Knows What	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
2017	Good Time	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
2019	Uncut Gems	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
2022	Funny Pages	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
2025	The Smashing Machine	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

Column 1	Column 2
†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
2017	Person to Person	Eugene	Dustin Guy Defa
Good Time	Nick Nikas	Safdie brothers
2020	Pieces of a Woman	Chris	Kornél Mundruczó
2021	Licorice Pizza	Joel Wachs	Paul Thomas Anderson
2022	Stars at Noon	CIA Man	Claire Denis
2023	Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.	Herb Simon	Kelly Fremon Craig
Oppenheimer	Edward Teller	Christopher Nolan
2025	Happy Gilmore 2	Frank Manatee	Kyle Newacheck
2026	The Super Mario Galaxy Movie	Bowser Jr.	Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic	Voice
The Odyssey †	Agamemnon	Christopher Nolan	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	Togetherness	Craddock Brother #2	Episode: "Advanced Pretend"
2022	Obi-Wan Kenobi	Nari	Episode: "Part I"
2023–2024	The Curse	Dougie Schecter	Main role; also co-creator, writer, executive producer and editor

Safdie the 2025 Venice Film Festival

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
Venice International Film Festival	September 6, 2025	Golden Lion	Benny Safdie	Nominated
Silver Lion	Won
Stockholm International Film Festival	November 16, 2025	Stockholm Visionary Award	Honored

Benny Safdie at IMDb
Red Bucket Films Archived November 21, 2019, at the Wayback Machine

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