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Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957)State of Minnesota. Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002. Minnesota Department of Health. is an American filmmaker. Coen brothers his brother Joel Coen, he has directed, written, edited and produced many feature films, the most acclaimed of which include Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), No Country for Old Men (2007), A Serious Man (2009), True Grit (2010), and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).
The duo began directing separately in the 2020s. Ethan's first solo directorial work was , a documentary about the titular singer-songwriter. His first solo feature film was 2024's Drive-Away Dolls, which was co-written by his wife Tricia Cooke. His following solo feature film, Honey Don't!, premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
The brothers, together, have won four Academy Awards from 13 nominations; one for writing Fargo, and three for writing, directing, and producing No Country For Old Men. They also won a Palme d'Or for Barton Fink.
Both sides of the Coen family were Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews. Their paternal grandfather, Victor Coen, was a barrister in the Inns of Court in London before retiring to Hove with their grandmother. Edward Coen was an American citizen born in the United States, but grew up in Croydon, London and studied at the London School of Economics. Afterwards he moved to the United States, where he met the Coens' mother, and served in the United States Army during World War II.
The Coens developed an early interest in cinema through television. They grew up watching Italian films (ranging from the works of Federico Fellini to the Sons of Hercules films) aired on a Minneapolis station, the Tarzan films, and comedies (Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope and Doris Day).
Ethan graduated from St. Louis Park High School in 1976, and from Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He went on to Princeton University and earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy in 1979. His senior thesis was a 41-page essay, "Two Views of Wittgenstein's Later Philosophy", which was supervised by Raymond Geuss.
The brothers wanted to follow their debut with something fast-paced and funny. They directed Raising Arizona (1987), which starred Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter, and marked the first of many collaborations between the Coens and John Goodman. The two continued to direct throughout the 1990s, with the black comedy thriller Barton Fink (1991) winning the Palme d'Or and being nominated for one Oscar. They directed Fargo (1996), a black comedy crime film that won many accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actress for star Frances McDormand, as well as winning the brothers Best Original Screenplay, their first Oscar win. The Big Lebowski (1998) is a crime comedy following Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges). It became a cult classic.
Other Oscar-nominated films the duo directed in the 2000s included O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and The Man Who Wasn't There (2001). In 2007, the two made No Country for Old Men, adapted from the 2005 novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy. The film stars Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem. No Country received nearly universal critical praise, garnering a 94% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes. It won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, all of which were received by the Coens, as well as Best Supporting Actor received by Bardem for his portrayal of hitman Anton Chigurh. The Coens, as "Roderick Jaynes", were also nominated for Best Editing, but didn't win. It was the first time since 1961 (when Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise won for West Side Story) that two directors received the Academy Award for Best Director at the same time.
Other well-received films they directed together throughout the next decade included A Serious Man (2009), True Grit (2010), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Hail Caesar! (2016) and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018). They also co-wrote the script for Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies (2015).
Ethan directed the documentary , which was edited by his wife Tricia Cooke and was shown at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. In 2022, Ethan directed the Road movie comedy Drive-Away Dolls, co-written by Cooke. It was released by Focus Features, and was Ethan's first narrative film without his brother. The film was released on February 22, 2024, to mixed reviews.
His next film Honey Don't! was released in 2025. Drive-Away Dolls and Honey Don't! have been described as the first and second in a "lesbian B-movie trilogy." Both films star Margaret Qualley. Coen and Cooke have discussed making a third film titled Go Beavers. The duo have characterized these films as dark comedies similar in tone to earlier Coen brothers works, such as Raising Arizona, but with sexual content the brothers did not typically include in their collaborations. The release of this trilogy is the outcome of 20 years of writing by Coen and Cooke.
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