Dan Gilroy was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Frank D. Gilroy, and sculptor and writer Ruth Dorothy. His brother Tony Gilroy is a screenwriter and director; and his fraternal twin brother, John Gilroy, is a film editor. Through his father, he is of Italian, Irish and German descent.

• Nightcrawler (2014)

  
• Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)

  
• Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)

  
• The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? (2015)

  
• El Hombre que vio Demasiado (2015)