Dan Ireland began his career in 1976 by co-founding the Seattle International Film Festival with Darryl Macdonald, and running it from 1975-1986. He and Macdonald immigrated to Seattle from Vancouver in their late teens to create the festival and open a first-run art theatre, The Egyptian.
During his tenure, Ireland was responsible for co-booking numerous world premieres, including films by Joel and Ethan Coen, Richard Rush, Irwin Kirshner, Ridley Scott, Tobe Hooper, Marek Kanevska, Carl Franklin, George Miller, Alan Rudolph, Hector Babanco, Akira Kurosawa, and Paul Verhoeven.
In 1983, Ireland was awarded the Golden Calf Award for his contribution to advancing Dutch Films in the United States. His friendship with director Paul Verhoeven helped save the distribution in America for Verhoeven's breakthrough US film, 'Soldier of Orange'.
In 1986, Ireland moved to Los Angeles to become the head of Film Acquisition for Vestron Pictures. During his three-year tenure, he executive produced or spearheaded projects such as John Huston's 'The Dead', Bernard Rose's 'Paperhouse', and three of Ken Russell's best films of the 80's.
After leaving Vestron Pictures, Ireland produced several films, including 'Whore' with Ken Russell and 'The Crew' with Carl Colpaert.
In 1995, Ireland made the transition from producer to director with his critically acclaimed film debut, 'The Whole Wide World', starring Vincent D'Onofrio and Renee Zellweger. The film won several awards, including Best New American Film of The Seattle International Film Festival and Best Actor and Best Actress at the Mar del Plata Film Festival.
Over the past twenty years, Ireland has directed several films, including 'The Velocity Of Gary', 'Passionada', 'Mrs. Palfrey At The Claremont', and 'Jolene', which launched the career of actress Jessica Chastain.
Ireland has also worked with Renee Zellweger on her entry into executive producing, 'Living Proof', the true story of oncologist Dr. Dennis Slamon who helped discover the Cancer drug Herceptin.
In addition to his feature films, Ireland has directed two short films, 'Hate From A Distance' and 'A Most Peculiar Man', and is currently working on his next film, 'Life Briefly', the true saga of Brian Knapp, a young man who overcame his blindness to become a world-class drummer.
