Ti West
Timon C. West is an American actor and filmmaker, best known for his work in horror films. He directed the horror films The Roost, Trigger Man, The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers, the Western In a Valley of Violence as well as the X film series. He has also acted in a number of films, mostly in those directed by either himself or Joe Swanberg.
Early life
West was born in Wilmington, Delaware, and attended Tatnall School, describing his background as "suburban middle class." His given name Timon is the surname of his maternal grandfather. He was inspired to create films after watching Peter Jackson's Bad Taste and Sam Raimi's Evil Dead. He was featured in a 2001 fall issue of Teen People magazine. West attended the School of Visual Arts. There, one of his professors, screenwriter and director Kelly Reichardt, introduced him to Larry Fessenden, who became his mentor. Fessenden funded West's first two films, The Roost and Trigger Man.Career
West's early directorial work includes the 2001 short The Wicked, and feature films The Roost, Trigger Man, The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers, and The Sacrament. He appeared in 2004's The Woman Who Split Before Dinner as Old Man Conrad. In 2009, West wrote, produced and directed the web series Dead & Lonely for IFC Films. The first series run ended in October 2009. West disowned the 2009 horror film Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, citing massive interference and re-editing as the reasons. He wanted to remove his name completely from the film and give directing credit to Alan Smithee, but his request was denied.West was set to direct The Haunting in Georgia, the sequel to The Haunting in Connecticut, but left the project in March 2010. In 2012, he worked with Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, David Bruckner, Joe Swanberg, Glenn McQuaid and the Radio Silence Productions hosts Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Chad Villella on the anthology horror film V/H/S. He directed the segment "Second Honeymoon".
In June 2015, it was reported that West would direct an episode of MTV's Scream television series. He directed the penultimate episode of the first season, titled "The Dance". He has also directed an episode of Jason Blum and Eli Roth's We TV horror series South of Hell, titled "Take Life Now". West wrote, directed, produced and edited the Western film In a Valley of Violence, starring Ethan Hawke, Taissa Farmiga, and John Travolta. It premiered at South by Southwest in March 2016.
In late 2020, it was announced that A24 would produce a horror film titled X, which would be directed by West and will star Mia Goth, Scott Mescudi, Jenna Ortega, and Brittany Snow. The film was released on March 18, 2022, to critical acclaim. While X was in production, filming in New Zealand was temporarily halted due to the country's lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to West spending the time writing a screenplay to a prequel. The film, Pearl, was filmed back-to-back with X once production started up again. Pearl was released in September 2022 to critical acclaim. West later confirmed he was working on a third installment in the series, a sequel to X titled MaXXXine.
West directed the music video to Justin Timberlake’s single "No Angels", which was released March 15, 2024, as the second single from the latter’s sixth studio album Everything I Thought It Was. He also directed the music video for Neverland, a single from Kid Cudi's 2025 album, Free. Cudi had previously appeared in West's 2022 film X.
Prospective projects
In October 2025, it was reported West was directing a new adaption of A Christmas Carol for Paramount Pictures, with Johnny Depp finalizing talks to star.Personal life
On Halloween 2024 West married Australian DJ Alison Wonderland in Las Vegas. The previous year they welcomed their first child together, a son named Max.Filmography
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Editor | Notes |
| 2001 | Prey | Also cinematographer | ||||
| 2001 | Infested | Also cinematographer | ||||
| 2001 | The Wicked | Also cinematographer | ||||
| 2008 | Christmas Decay | Produced for Glass Eye Pix as part of their 2008 Creepy Christmas Online Film Festival | ||||
| 2013 | Box | Segment of The 3:07 AM Project, a short anthology produced to promote The Conjuring | ||||
| 2022 | The Farmer's Daughters | Chronological compilation of the porn film that was shot in X. Released as an extra on the home media releases of the film. |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
| 2009 | Dead & Lonely |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2005 | The Roost | Professor | |
| 2009 | The House of the Devil | Favorite Teacher | |
| 2011 | You're Next | Tariq | |
| 2011 | Silver Bullets | Ben | |
| 2012 | Marriage Material | Also cinematographer | |
| 2012 | All the Light in the Sky | Director | |
| 2013 | Drinking Buddies | Dave |
| Year | Title | Episode |
| 2015 | Scream | "The Dance" |
| 2015 | South of Hell | "Take Life Now" |
| 2016 | Wayward Pines | "Exit Strategy" and "Bedtime Story" |
| 2017 | Outcast | "The Common Good" |
| 2017 | The Exorcist | "Unclean" |
| 2019 | The Passage | "You Are Not That Girl Anymore" |
| 2019 | Chambers | "Bad Inside" and "Heroic Dose" |
| 2019 | The Resident | "Belief System" |
| 2019 | Soundtrack | "Track 3: Sam and Dante" and "Track 5: Dante and Annette" |
| 2020 | Tales from the Loop | "Enemies" |
| 2021, 2024 | Them | "Day 7: Night", "Day 10" and "The Box" |
| 2025 | Poker Face | "The Day of the Iguana" |
| Year | Title | Artist |
| 2024 | "No Angels" | Justin Timberlake |
| 2025 | "Neverland" | Kid Cudi |