Biography for
Joss Whedon More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

23 June 1964, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name

Joseph Hill Whedon

Height

6' 4" (1.93 m)

Spouse

Kai Cole

(? - present) 2 children

Trade Mark

Plans storylines far in advance for all his television series, allowing for remarkable long-term continuity.

Frequent use of nouns as adjectives, by adding the suffix "-y"

Features tough, strong female characters

Kills off characters who are among his most popular, to keep his audiences surprised.

Supernatural and science fiction themes

Trivia

Attended and graduated from Wesleyan University in 1987.

Joss Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997) episode "Hush" was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2000 for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. "Hush" featured 28 minutes without dialogue, as a group of fairy-tale demons called the Gentlemen arrived in Sunnydale to steal voices, and then hearts (literally).

Son of Tom Whedon.

Grandson of John Whedon.

Whedon is married and resides in Los Angeles.

Writing is clearly in his blood, since he could arguably be the world's first third-generation television writer. His grandfather was a successful sitcom writer in the 1950s and '60s on "The Donna Reed Show" (1958) and "Leave It to Beaver" (1957), and his father wrote for the likes of "The Dick Cavett Show" (1968), "Alice" (1976) and "Benson" (1979).

After receiving a degree in film studies from Wesleyan University, Whedon moved to Los Angeles and landed his first writing job on the staff of "Roseanne" (1988), working as a story editor and writing several episodes of the top-rated series. He later pulled double duty on the NBC series "Parenthood" (1990), co-producing and writing a number of episodes.

Appeared on-screen in the Jossverse for the first-time in the _"Angel" (1999/I)_ episode "Through the Looking Glass" as Numfar of the Deathwok Clan. A relative of the Host, he is routinely ordered by Lorne's mother to dance.

Has said that he created Buffy (of the vampire slaying fame) to be an "alternative feminist icon".

Was asked to revise the script for X-Men (2000) and reportedly decided the whole script needed to be totally rewritten. When he handed the studio this draft, they apparently threw it out; they only really wanted him to add a couple jokes here and there.

Lived in the UK for 3 years, from 1980-2, attending Winchester College in Hampshire, where he took his A levels. The character of Rupert Giles is mistakenly thought to be based on a history teacher there, Dr. Peter Cramer. Dr. Cramer's arrival at the College post-dates Whedon's departure. The character was named in tribute to his House Matron: Barbara Giles.

Whedon and Cole can be heard doing a demo track for the wildly popular episode "Once More With Feeling" on the episode soundtrack. It was recorded in the front hall of their home.

His wife, Kai Cole, gave birth to their son Arden on December 18, 2002.

Has cited the X-Men character Kitty Pryde (AKA Shadowcat) as a major influence for the character of Buffy.

Brother of Zack Whedon, assistant to Mr. David Milch.

Created two "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" comic book spin-offs about a vampire slayer named Melaka Fray from 200 years of the future of New York City called "Fray" with artist Karl Moline and various vampire comic book stories "Tales of the Vampires" with Buffy star Amber Benson along with other Buffy tv and comic scribe writers. Currently writing "The Astonishing X-Men" comic book series for Marvel Comics.

Took him two years to finish writing Buffy comic book spin-off mini-series "Fray" with artist Karl Moline, due to his schedule with his three shows (Buffy/Angel/ Firefly) and the artist's new job at CrossGen Comics.

Wrote Angel's comic book tie-in mini-series with comic book writer Brett Matthews called "Angel: Long Night's Journey." Just as Buffy comic book spin- off FRAY, this comic book mini-series had series of delays because of Joss's committments to Buffy/Angel/Firefly/Fray.

Wrote three vignettes for Buffy's "Tale of the Slayers" graphic novel, along with Buffy cast Amber Benson, "Smallville" (2001) consulting producer Jeph Leob, and other Buffy TV and comic writers: In the book, Joss wrote about the origin of The First Slayer, the death of a slayer from the medieval period, and his futuristic slayer Melaka Fray's discovery of an abandoned New York branch of the Watcher Council Headquarter.

Wrote an introduction for Jim Krugeer and Alex Ross's Marvel Comics's award- winning graphic novel "Earth X."

His last television project was a show called "Firefly," which offered his unique view of the future.

He recently finished production for "Serenity," a movie continuation of the discontinued show, "Firefly."

His favorite movie is The Matrix (1999).

Considers Mad Max 2 (1981) to be a perfect movie.

The August 21, 1995, draft of the screenplay for Twister (1996) credits Joss Whedon and Jeff Nathanson as writers. Neither writer are credited in the final film.

Has claimed that his script for Firefly episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds" is his personal favorite thing he has ever written.

Wrote the plot to the comic book Serenity, which bridged the gap between the Firefly T.V. series and the film. Fellow Firefly writer Brett Matthews scripted it.

Daughter, Squire, born late 2004/early 2005.

In 2007, started writing the comic-book Runaways after Brian K. Vaughan left it.

Rewrote the script for Speed (1994/I) uncredited.

Related to Jed Whedon, video game music composer.

Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof are the godparents of his son Arden.

An active supporter of gay rights.

In X-Men: The Last Stand, the idea of a cure developed by Dr. Kavita Rao, Beast's interest in it, and the prominent roles played by Kitty Pryde and Colossus, were inspired by Joss Whedon's story "Gifted" which took place in the first six issues of "Astonishing X-Men".

Personal Quotes

[when asked how he designed each unstoppable season villain to be unique and threatening:] "We got into a problem with that. We kept saying, "This monster can't be killed." It's like, "Well, have you used violence?" It was never about the unstoppableness. It was never about the monster. It was about the emotion. The monster came from that. We didn't always make them unique. We tried as much as possible, but what was important was how they related to the characters and that's what made them unique." [April 2003]

But nowadays I'm really cranky about comics. Because most of them are just really, really poorly written soft-core. And I miss good old storytelling. And you know what else I miss? Super powers. Why is it now that everybody's like "I can reverse the polarity of your ions!" Like in one big flash everybody's Doctor Strange. I like the guys that can stick to walls and change into sand and stuff. I don't understand anything anymore. And all the girls are wearing nothing, and they all look like they have implants. Well, I sound like a very old man, and a cranky one, but it's true.

"It's fascinating to me, the shows that I've always loved the best, "Hill Street Blues" (1981), "Wiseguy," "Twin Peaks" (1990) have always been shows that did have accumulative knowledge. One of the reasons why "The X Files" (1993) started to leave me cold was that after five years, I just started yelling at Scully, 'You're an idiot. It's a monster,' and I couldn't take it anymore. I need people to grow, I need them to change, I need them to learn and explore, you know, and die and do all of the things that people do in real life. And so [on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997)] we're very, very strict about making sure that things track, that they're presented in the right way. Because, ultimately -- and this is one of the things that I did find out after we had aired, the soap opera, the characters, the interaction between them is really what people respond to more than anything else. And although we came out of it as a sort of monster-of-the-week format, it was clear that the interaction was the thing that people were latching onto. So we were happy to sort of go with that and really play it up and really see where these characters were going to go." [NPR Fresh Air, 8 November 2002]

[about tearful emotions while filming the last episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" :] "The last scene that I filmed [involved] a one-day player with no lines, which is great. I actually said, 'I want the last scene to be a one-day player with no lines, so I don't lose it.'" [The New York Post, May 20, 2003]

"Joss likes those old movie serials." -- Marti Noxon, about Whedon's cliffhanger endings to episodes [January 26, 2003]

"The times are chaotic. For me, I would hope that people look at [_"Angel" (1999/I)_] and gain strength by it. With everything that I do, I hope that they see people struggling to live decent, moral lives in a completely chaotic world. They see how hard it is, how often they fail, and how they get up and keep trying. That, to me, is the most important message I'm ever going to tell." [The Vancouver Sun, February 3, 2004]

[after The WB channel canceled the series, causing hurt feelings among the cast and crew -- hurt which was dramatized in the finale] "We put a lot of that heartbreak into the script, into the show, so it would hurt as much to watch as it did to have it taken away from us. I would not have been as brutal about the ending -- had we had another season." (May 10, 2004)

[about his "Buffy" and "Angel" TV shows] "Redemption is something you have to fight for in a very personal, down-dirty way. Some of our characters lose that, some stray from that, and some regain it." (May 13, 2004)

Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck.

[Talking about Serenity and making a movie] When you're making a movie, you gotta Amp it up, you gotta go to a greater scale and everything is gonna be a little grander, you hero is gonna be more 'heroicaler'.... yes that's a word..... now....

I'd rather make a show 100 people need to see, than a show that 1000 people want to see.

Regarding why his Wonder Woman script wasn't accepted: It was in an outline, and not in a draft, and they didn't like it. So I never got to write a draft where I got to work out exactly what I wanted to do. In terms of the meaning, the feeling, the look, the emotion, the character, the relationship with Steve Trevor, all of that stuff, I never wavered for a second... The lack of enthusiasm was overwhelming. It was almost staggering, and that was kind of from the beginning. I just don't think my take on Wonder Woman was ever to their liking.

If somebody comes up to me, it's because they're moved by something I'm moved by. I've never taken a job I didn't love ... So when somebody's coming up to me, or they're writing, they're in the same space I am in. I write for fanboy moments. I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of. I write to do all the things the viewers want too. So the intensity of the fan response is enormously gratifying. It means I hit a nerve.

... I believe the best way to examine anything is to go to a dark place. You can't be a storyteller and a speechwriter at the same time.

Writers are completely out of touch with reality. Writers are a crazy person. We create conflict - for a living. We do this all the time, sometimes on a weekly basis, we create horrible, incredible circumstances and then figure a way out of them. That's what we do.

Where Are They Now

(June 2004) Currently in the middle of a 12 issue stint on Marvel Astonishing X- Men.

(March 2005) Has just been signed to write the new "Wonder Woman" movie

(September 2005) Will be writing a second set of 12 issues of Marvel Comics' "Astonishing X-Men", the first issue of which is tentatively scheduled to ship in December of 2005.

(May 2005) Finished shooting and production on "Serenity".

(April 2006) Completing his first draft script for "Wonder Woman" (2007).

(March 2007) Writing and supervising a Dark Horse comic book series that's the official and canonical sequel to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

(April 2007) Writer on the Marvel comics, Runaways (with Astonishing X-men and Buffy the Vampire Slayer he's currently putting out three different comics simultaneously).

(July 2007) Announced that BBC had optioned 'Ripper,' a television film centered on 'Anthony Stewart Head' and his character Giles from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)'.

(October 2007) Announced plans for a new Fox television series "Dollhouse" starring Eliza Dushku, to be aired in 2008.

(December 2007) He is scripting an Angel graphic novel; After the Fall. A sixth season and continuation of the television series.

(March 2008) He is scripting a 3 issues Serenity comics, Better Days, for Dark Horse Comics, a prequel to the movie.

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