Tony Clifford is a director and screenwriter from Dublin, Ireland.

At a young age Tony’s parents relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada. Attending school in the states, Tony would spend his summers in his native Ireland. Tony attended the University of Nevada: Las Vegas and graduated having won several awards for his short films. The most coveted award from that time, Paramount’s city-wide Super 8 competition. As reward, Dream in the Dark, a short film of Tony’s, screened before the Las Vegas premiere of JJ Abrams’s Super 8.

With UNLV’s emphasis on actual production experience, Tony worked on his own projects all while learning the different sides of the filmmaking spectrum from acting in front of the camera, cinematography, gripping and electric, producing, and most importantly for Tony, directing and screenwriting. It was during these years and shortly after graduating that Tony worked on professional sets and learned the ropes via practical on-set experience. From escorting Ms. America through an Air Force base to working on a notoriously fast shooting Roger Corman feature. Tony then teamed up with some film school friends and worked as a second assistant director and production coordinator on the low-budget feature Liars, Fires and Bears which has gone on to have festival success and distribution.

Tony then turned his focus to writing. After interviewing and being accepted into some of the best graduate film schools in the world, Tony made the difficult decision to turn them down in lieu of making his first feature film, Neon Streets.

Interesting Facts:

Tony Clifford wanted to be a professional soccer player and was offered college scholarships that he turned down as the schools that offered did not have a film program. It turned out to be a good decision as his career ended before he had a chance to kick a ball in college due to a series of injuries.

Irish people say he has no accent. Americans are convinced they can hear it. Tony personally believes it comes out when he is around other Irish people.