Jane Goldman
Jane Loretta Anne Goldman (born 11 June 1970) is an English screenwriter, author, and producer renowned for her adaptations of fantasy, superhero, and thriller narratives into successful films.[1] Goldman began her career in the 1990s as a journalist and author, writing books such as The X-Files Book of the Unexplained (1995) aimed at teenage audiences and contributing as a staff writer for computer games magazines.[2] She transitioned to television presenting, co-hosting shows like The Big Breakfast in the late 1990s, before shifting focus to screenwriting in the mid-2000s.[2] Her breakthrough in film came with the 2007 fantasy adventure Stardust, co-written and produced with director Matthew Vaughn, which earned critical acclaim and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.[1] Goldman and Vaughn formed a prolific creative partnership, collaborating on the superhero comedy Kick-Ass (2010), the Marvel prequel X-Men: First Class (2011), the spy action film Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and its sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), and the World War I prequel The King's Man (2021). These projects highlighted her skill in blending high-stakes action with witty dialogue and character-driven storytelling, often adapting comic books or novels.[3] Beyond the Vaughn collaborations, Goldman has written for other notable adaptations, including the horror film The Woman in Black (2012), the fantasy Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), and the romantic thriller Rebecca (2020), which garnered mixed reviews but underscored her versatility in gothic and period genres.[4] In television, she developed a Game of Thrones prequel pilot for HBO in 2018, though it was not advanced to series.[5] Goldman married broadcaster Jonathan Ross in 1988, when she was 18; the couple has three children, including actress Honey Ross.[2] She resides in London and continues to work on high-profile projects, including co-writing the screenplay for Edgar Wright's upcoming remake of Barbarella, starring Sydney Sweeney, and the screenplay for the film adaptation of the comic series Love Everlasting.[6][7]Early life
Childhood and family background
Jane Goldman was born Jane Loretta Anne Goldman on 11 June 1970 in Hammersmith, London, to a middle-class family with a Jewish father and a Buddhist mother.[8] She was the only child of Stuart Goldman, a property developer, and his wife Amanda, a practitioner of Buddhism, and the family resided in north London during her formative years. Raised in a liberal household, Goldman experienced a permissive environment that emphasized independence and open-mindedness, with her parents adopting a laid-back approach to parenting that allowed her significant freedom from an early age.[9][10] This supportive family dynamic played a key role in fostering her creative inclinations, as her parents encouraged her pursuits and her grandmother specifically inspired her to view writing as a viable career path, sparking her introduction to storytelling during her teenage years.[11]Initial media exposure
Goldman attended the King Alfred School, an independent school in Hampstead, until the age of 15, when she left with eight O-levels and traveled to the United States to follow Boy George on tour.[9][12] Upon returning to the UK at age 16, she began her career as an entertainment journalist for British teen publications. She contributed articles on pop culture, music, and celebrity news to magazines such as Just Seventeen, where she secured her own column, and Smash Hits, marking her initial professional exposure in the industry.[12][13] Supported by her liberal middle-class family in north London, which encouraged her creative interests from a young age, Goldman quickly expanded her portfolio to include work for national outlets like the Daily Star.[9][8] By the early 1990s, she had earned her first major professional writing credits with lifestyle and pop culture pieces in prominent magazines including Cosmopolitan and The Times, solidifying her presence in print media.[14][15]Professional career
Television, journalism, and early writing
Jane Goldman began her professional career in journalism at the age of 16, shortly after leaving school, starting as a showbiz reporter for the Daily Star. She went on to contribute entertainment and celebrity columns to several prominent UK publications, including Just Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, The Sunday Times, Evening Standard, The Times, and Daily Star, often focusing on pop culture, video games, and teen advice topics.[16][11] During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Goldman appeared on BBC's entertainment news program Liquid News (1999–2004) as a reporter and guest host, providing coverage of celebrity news and showbiz events in a lively, youth-oriented format that engaged audiences through on-air discussions and audience interaction.[17] Her engaging style, blending humor with insightful commentary, helped establish her presence in broadcast media. Goldman's early writing extended to non-fiction books aimed at teenagers, including Thirteen-Something (1993), a guide to navigating adolescence; Streetsmarts: A Teenager's Safety Guide (1996), offering practical advice on personal safety; and Sussed and Streetwise (1997), which provided tips on urban survival and social savvy. She also co-authored the two-volume The X-Files Book of the Unexplained series (1995 and 1997), exploring paranormal phenomena with detailed case studies and scientific skepticism, drawing from her interest in the supernatural. In 2000, she published her debut novel Dreamworld, a thriller set in a utopian Florida theme park that uncovers dark secrets through investigative narrative techniques.[18] In 2003–2004, Goldman hosted the paranormal investigation series Jane Goldman Investigates on Living TV, where she examined topics like ghost hunting, astrology, tarot, and psychometry through fieldwork, expert interviews, and on-site experiments at haunted locations. The ghost hunting episodes featured her leading teams in real-time investigations using tools like EMF meters and EVP recorders, emphasizing empirical approaches to unexplained events while maintaining an open-minded yet critical perspective.[19]Screenwriting collaborations
Jane Goldman's screenwriting career gained prominence through her long-standing partnership with director Matthew Vaughn, beginning with their co-written adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel Stardust in 2007. This fantasy romance marked their first official collaboration, blending whimsical adventure with romantic elements and earning praise for its faithful yet cinematic translation of the source material.[16] Their next joint effort, Kick-Ass (2010), adapted Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.'s comic book series, exploring themes of amateur vigilantism in a gritty, satirical take on superhero tropes. Goldman and Vaughn emphasized the story's deconstruction of heroism, focusing on the consequences of ordinary people donning masks amid urban crime, with the script highlighting the moral ambiguities of violence through characters like the young assassin Hit-Girl. The film achieved commercial success, grossing approximately $97 million worldwide against a modest budget, solidifying their reputation for irreverent action comedies.[20][21] In 2011, Goldman co-wrote X-Men: First Class, a prequel to the X-Men franchise that delved into the origins of Charles Xavier and Magneto during the Cold War era. The screenplay developed rich character arcs for the young mutants, emphasizing ideological conflicts between assimilation and revolution, while incorporating historical tensions to ground the superhero narrative. Revisions during production refined the interpersonal dynamics, particularly the evolving friendship and rivalry between the leads, contributing to the film's critical acclaim and $353.6 million global box office performance.[22] The duo's collaboration extended to the spy franchise with Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), an original story inspired by Millar's comics that innovated the genre by fusing over-the-top action with British class satire and absurd humor. Goldman's script integrated witty dialogue and exaggerated set pieces, such as the infamous church massacre sequence, to subvert spy thriller conventions while creating a blueprint for the series. The film spawned a franchise, grossing $414 million worldwide and leading to the sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), where they expanded the world with international alliances and heightened comedic elements, though it earned a slightly lower $411 million globally.[23][24] Outside her Vaughn partnerships, Goldman penned the screenplay for Tim Burton's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), adapting Ransom Riggs' novel with a focus on fantastical elements like time loops and peculiar abilities. Her script prioritized visual storytelling to capture the eerie, whimsical atmosphere, emphasizing themes of refuge and identity for the child protagonists, which aligned with Burton's gothic style and resulted in $296 million in worldwide earnings.[13][25] Throughout these works, Goldman's writing style consistently merges high-stakes action with sharp wit and empowered female characters, as seen in lines like Hit-Girl's profane retort, "Okay, you cunts, let's see what you can do now!" from Kick-Ass, which underscores her approach to bold, unapologetic dialogue that drives thematic depth.[26]Producing and directorial involvement
Jane Goldman has played significant roles in the production of several high-profile films, often in collaboration with director Matthew Vaughn through his company Marv Films. As co-producer on Kick-Ass (2010), she contributed to the creative and business oversight of the adaptation, helping shape its development from comic book source material into a major release. Her involvement extended to key decisions on project strategy, including financing and distribution partnerships under Marv Films.[27] In the Kingsman franchise, Goldman served as co-producer for both Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), where she influenced production elements such as visual effects integration and actor selection, notably supporting Vaughn's choices for roles like Eggsy in the first film.[28] These credits highlight her executive contributions to the series' blend of action and satire, with Marv Films handling primary production responsibilities. She also executive produced The Limehouse Golem (2016), overseeing the adaptation's gothic tone and period authenticity.[29] Goldman's producing work extends to television, where she co-created, wrote, and executive produced a pilot for an untitled Game of Thrones prequel series at HBO in 2018, set thousands of years before the main events and focusing on the Long Night.[5] Although the pilot did not advance to series, it demonstrated her oversight in large-scale fantasy production, including casting high-profile actors like Naomi Watts.[30] Post-2020, Goldman has transitioned toward more independent producing roles outside Vaughn collaborations, emphasizing diverse genres in film and television development, such as thriller adaptations.[31] While she has not yet made a directorial debut, her production experience underscores a focus on creative management and genre innovation.Recent and upcoming projects
Following her long-standing collaborations with director Matthew Vaughn on films like Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Jane Goldman has continued to focus on high-concept adaptations and original screenplays in the 2020s. One of her key ongoing projects is the adaptation of Adrian McKinty's 2019 thriller novel The Chain, for which Goldman penned the screenplay in 2020, with Edgar Wright attached to direct for Universal Pictures. The story centers on a parent forced into a nightmarish kidnapping scheme to save their child, blending psychological tension with high-stakes action. As of 2025, the project remains in development, having faced delays from the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that halted much of Hollywood production for several months.[32][33] In May 2024, Goldman entered negotiations to co-write the remake of the 1968 sci-fi classic Barbarella for Sony Pictures, teaming up with her daughter Honey Ross on the script. Starring Sydney Sweeney in the title role, the project aims to modernize the film's psychedelic adventure and feminist undertones while updating its visual effects for contemporary audiences; Edgar Wright was in talks to direct but, as of November 2025, the film is still in pre-production without a confirmed start date. Sweeney has expressed enthusiasm for the script during a May 2025 meeting in London, indicating active progress despite industry-wide delays.[34][6][35] Goldman was announced in April 2025 as the screenwriter for Sony's adaptation of Tom King's comic book series Love Everlasting, with Lenny Abrahamson (Room) set to direct. The story follows an immortal protagonist navigating eternal love across timelines, emphasizing emotional depth amid supernatural elements; the package was acquired in a competitive situation, highlighting Goldman's reputation for genre-blending narratives. This marks her return to comic adaptations since earlier works like Kick-Ass (2010).[7] Goldman's project selections in recent years reflect a deliberate approach, prioritizing scripts that align with her strengths in thriller and speculative fiction amid a post-pandemic industry recovery and her reduced output following family-focused priorities in the early 2020s. No further announcements for 2025 spin-offs or series have been confirmed, though her involvement in these developments underscores her continued influence in blockbuster screenwriting.Personal life
Marriage and family
Jane Goldman has been married to British television presenter and producer Jonathan Ross since August 1988. The couple first met in 1986 when Goldman, then a 16-year-old entertainment journalist, interviewed Ross, who was 26 at the time; they wed two years later when she was 18.[36][37] Goldman and Ross share three children: daughter Betty Kitten Ross (born 1991), son Harvey Kirby Ross (born 1993), and daughter Honey Kinney Ross (born 1997). The family has largely maintained a low public profile, with the couple rarely sharing details about their home life despite Ross's high-visibility career. In 2013, Ross expressed interest in relocating to Los Angeles to support Goldman's burgeoning screenwriting work in Hollywood, though the family has continued to reside primarily in London, making occasional trips to the U.S. for professional commitments.[36][38] Throughout her career, Goldman has navigated the demands of raising a family alongside her professional pursuits, often prioritizing collaborative projects that align with her schedule during key family milestones. She has spoken sparingly about parenting in the public eye, emphasizing in rare interviews the challenges of balancing creative endeavors with family responsibilities in the entertainment industry. In a notable family collaboration, Goldman teamed up with her daughter Honey Ross in 2024 to co-write the screenplay for Sony Pictures' remake of Barbarella, starring Sydney Sweeney and directed by Edgar Wright.[34] The Goldmans have adopted a stance of privacy regarding their family, limiting disclosures and avoiding social media scrutiny; in 2014, Goldman deleted her Twitter account following online harassment directed at her family over Ross's role hosting the Hugo Awards. This approach has allowed them to shield their children from the spotlight, with only occasional joint appearances at events like film premieres.[39][40]Public persona and interests
Jane Goldman has long been fascinated by the paranormal, a passion that permeated her early career and personal pursuits. In the mid-1990s, she authored a two-volume series, The X-Files Book of the Unexplained, delving into real-life mysteries and supernatural events, which reflected her childhood curiosity about the unknown.[41] This interest led to her hosting the 2003–2004 television series Jane Goldman Investigates, a documentary program in which she actively participated in ghost hunts and examined phenomena such as hauntings and psychometry across multiple episodes.[19] In her public advocacy, Goldman has championed women's rights within the film industry, emphasizing authentic and non-sexualized portrayals of female characters. During a 2017 interview, she explained that making the young Hit-Girl character in Kick-Ass only 11 years old was intentional to subvert typical objectification, stating, "The only way Hit-Girl could be not sexualised was by being 11."[42] Her screenwriting often incorporates strong gender dynamics, as seen in projects like The Limehouse Golem, where she highlighted female agency amid historical constraints, contributing to broader conversations on equity in entertainment.[42] Goldman's hobbies reveal a creative and adventurous side, including daily play of the fantasy-themed card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and immersion in horror cinema, such as the zombie thriller Train to Busan.[16] Her affinity for comics is evident in her adaptations of graphic novels like Kick-Ass and Kingsman, stemming from a geeky, brainy youth that shaped her storytelling.[20] This early engagement with paranormal topics in her writing continues to inform her interest in the supernatural. Publicly, Goldman transitioned from a vibrant television presenter and model in the 1990s—known for her energetic on-screen presence—to a formidable industry figure as a screenwriter and producer by the 2010s.[43] Contemporary profiles portray her as a balanced professional navigating high-profile collaborations while prioritizing personal fulfillment, underscoring her evolution into a respected creative force.[43]Creative works
Books and publications
Jane Goldman's literary output began in the early 1990s with non-fiction works aimed at young adults, including Thirteen-Something: A Survivor's Guide (1993), a practical handbook offering advice on navigating teenage challenges such as school pressures and social dynamics.[44] Published by Penguin Books, the book drew on her experiences as a young journalist to provide relatable guidance in an accessible tone. She followed this with Sussed and Streetwise: A Teenager's Safety Guide (1995), co-authored with Samantha Rugen, which focused on personal safety topics like avoiding risks in urban environments and recognizing danger signals, emphasizing empowerment through knowledge.[45] Her interest in the paranormal led to her most notable non-fiction series, The X-Files Book of the Unexplained, comprising two volumes published in the mid-1990s. Volume 1 (1995), released by Simon & Schuster, explores real-life mysteries such as UFO sightings, alien abductions, and psychic phenomena that inspired episodes from the television series, featuring detailed case studies, historical accounts, and connections to specific show narratives, illustrated with photographs and diagrams for clarity.[46] Volume 2 (1997), published by Simon & Schuster, continues this investigation with topics including government cover-ups, spontaneous human combustion, and faith healing, incorporating episode breakdowns and investigative methodologies to blend entertainment with factual analysis.[47] Described by its publisher as phenomenally successful, the series achieved strong sales in the UK, appealing to fans of the show through its engaging, evidence-based approach to unexplained events.[48] In fiction, Goldman published Dreamworld (2000), a thriller novel set in a sprawling Florida vacation resort where a series of crimes unfolds amid an idyllic facade, exploring themes of deception and hidden dangers in seemingly perfect environments. Issued by Pocket Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster), the book showcases her narrative style blending suspense with character-driven storytelling.[18] Later, Goldman co-authored Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie (2010) with Mark Millar and Matthew Vaughn, a behind-the-scenes companion to the graphic novel and its film adaptation. Published by Titan Books, it details the development process, from comic conceptualization to screenplay evolution, including artwork by John Romita Jr. and insights into character creation, serving as a conceptual guide to the project's collaborative origins.[49] This work marked a bridge between her writing and screen projects, highlighting her role in adapting print media to visual formats.Film credits
Jane Goldman's contributions to feature films span screenwriting and producing, with a focus on genre-blending projects that adapt literary and comic sources into high-concept spectacles. Her collaborations, particularly with director Matthew Vaughn through their Marv Films banner, have yielded commercially successful entries in fantasy, superhero, and action franchises, often emphasizing witty dialogue, visual flair, and thematic depth drawn from her background in speculative fiction.[1][31]Screenwriting Credits
Goldman's screenwriting work began with the fantasy adventure Stardust (2007), co-written with Matthew Vaughn and adapted from Neil Gaiman's novel; the film grossed $138 million worldwide against a $70 million budget and earned a 77% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes for its charming blend of romance and whimsy.[50] She followed with Kick-Ass (2010), co-writing the black comedy superhero adaptation with Vaughn based on Mark Millar's comics, which earned $98 million globally on a $30 million budget and a 76% Rotten Tomatoes score, praised for its irreverent take on vigilantism.[51] In X-Men: First Class (2011), co-written with Vaughn, Ashley Edward Miller, and Zack Stentz, Goldman helped craft the Marvel prequel exploring the origins of Professor X and Magneto, achieving $353 million worldwide on a $160 million budget and an 86% Rotten Tomatoes rating for revitalizing the franchise with sharp character dynamics.[52] The spy actioner Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), co-written with Vaughn and adapted from Mark Millar's comics, became a breakout hit, grossing $414 million against an $81 million budget and securing a 75% Rotten Tomatoes score for its stylish satire of espionage tropes. Goldman wrote the screenplay solo for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), adapting Ransom Riggs' novel for director Tim Burton; it amassed $296 million worldwide on a $110 million budget, holding a 65% Rotten Tomatoes approval amid mixed reviews for its peculiar visuals and emotional core.[53] Her co-writing on Alita: Battle Angel (2019) with James Cameron, Laeta Kalogridis, and Robert Rodriguez, based on Yukito Kishiro's manga, delivered $405 million globally against a $170 million budget and a 61% Rotten Tomatoes rating, noted for groundbreaking motion-capture effects despite narrative critiques.[54]Producing Credits
As a producer via Marv Films, Goldman has been instrumental in overseeing development and budgets for Vaughn's projects, contributing to the company's output of mid-to-high-budget action films. She served as co-producer on Kick-Ass (2010), managing its $30 million production that launched the studio's superhero slate. On the Kingsman franchise, including Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014, $81 million budget) and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017, over $100 million budget), Goldman handled production logistics, helping the series exceed $1 billion in cumulative worldwide grosses. Her producing role extended to The King's Man (2021), a prequel with a $100 million budget that grossed $126 million amid pandemic challenges. As of November 2025, Goldman holds screenwriting credit on The Chain, an adaptation of Adrian McKinty's thriller in post-production under Edgar Wright's direction for Universal Pictures, with no release date announced.[55]Television contributions
Jane Goldman began her television career as a presenter, gaining prominence in the early 1990s through her role on Channel 4's The Big Breakfast. She worked as a reporter on the light entertainment breakfast show.[56] Later in the decade, Goldman transitioned into entertainment reporting, serving as a presenter on BBC Three's Liquid News from 1999 to 2004. In this role, she provided weekly rundowns of celebrity news, film releases, and music events, often delivering on-location reports and panel discussions that appealed to a young adult audience. Her work on Liquid News helped solidify her reputation in broadcast media, blending journalism with on-screen charisma. In the early 2000s, Goldman hosted her own paranormal documentary series, Jane Goldman Investigates, which aired on Living TV from 2003 to 2004. The six-episode program explored topics such as ghost hunting, psychometry, tarot, and astrology, featuring expert guests like psychologist Chris French and parapsychologist Ciarán O'Keeffe. As both host and contributor to the scripts, Goldman approached the subjects with a mix of skepticism and curiosity, drawing on her interest in the supernatural.[19][57] Goldman's writing for television included contributions to unproduced pilots in the 2010s, notably the sci-fi/fantasy prequel to Game of Thrones titled Bloodmoon (also known as The Long Night). She wrote the pilot episode, which was filmed in 2019 with a budget exceeding $30 million and starred Naomi Watts, but HBO ultimately passed on the series despite positive internal feedback.[58][59] On the producing side, Goldman served as executive producer for Channel 4's The Big Fat Quiz of the Year from 2004 to 2013, a popular panel quiz show hosted by her husband Jonathan Ross that reviewed annual events with celebrity contestants. The series, produced through their company Hot Sauce TV, featured youth-oriented humor and debate formats, becoming a holiday staple with episodes often exceeding 2 million viewers.[60] Goldman has made guest appearances as a film writing expert, including on BBC One's The One Show in the 2010s, where she discussed screenwriting techniques alongside director Matthew Vaughn, particularly for action films like Kingsman: The Secret Service. Her early presenting work on The Big Breakfast significantly boosted her celebrity status, with the show reaching peak viewership of 2 million, capturing 27% of the breakfast TV audience and influencing youth-oriented programming trends.[61]Recognition
Awards and nominations
Jane Goldman has earned recognition for her contributions to film screenwriting and production, with honors primarily from genre-specific awards bodies highlighting her work in fantasy and action cinema. These accolades underscore her collaborative efforts with director Matthew Vaughn, emphasizing innovative adaptations and original scripts that blend humor, spectacle, and narrative depth. Her screenplay for Stardust (2007), co-written with Vaughn and based on Neil Gaiman's novel, received the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, celebrating its faithful yet cinematic expansion of the source material in the science fiction and fantasy community.[62] For Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), co-written and produced with Vaughn, Goldman was nominated for the 2016 Saturn Award for Best Writing, recognizing the film's witty subversion of spy tropes and its adaptation from Mark Millar's comic.[63] The project also earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film in 2015, acknowledging its cultural and technical impact on British cinema.[64] The following table summarizes her key awards and nominations:| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Hugo Award | Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form | Stardust (screenplay) | Won[62] |
| 2011 | Empire Award | Best British Film | Kick-Ass (screenplay and producer) | Won (film)[65] |
| 2012 | Bram Stoker Awards | Best Screenplay | The Woman in Black | Nominated[63] |
| 2016 | Saturn Award | Best Writing | Kingsman: The Secret Service (screenplay) | Nominated[63] |
| 2015 | BAFTA Award | Outstanding British Film | Kingsman: The Secret Service (producer) | Nominated[64] |