John Merriman is an American actor and filmmaker based in Austin, Texas. He is known for his roles in Gretchen (2006), You Hurt My Feelings (2011), Pit Stop (2013), Loves Her Gun (2013), Mustang Island (2017), and Sister Aimee (2019). He co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in multiple films, including My Name Is Buttons (2002) and Sleep Study (2010). He has also worked as a programmer, moderator, and interviewer for several Austin film and comedy festivals, including the Austin Film Festival, SXSW Comedy, and the Moontower Comedy Festival.
Early life
Merriman was born in Houston, Texas, and graduated from Connecticut College with a degree in psychology. He has lived in Austin since 1996.
Career
Acting
Merriman began acting in Austin independent films in the late 1990s, frequently collaborating with filmmaker Steve Collins and actress Courtney Davis. He appeared opposite Davis in several of Collins's early shorts, including The Ballad of Courtney and James (2001) and Lonelyland (2002), an Audience Award winner at the Cinematexas International Short Film Festival. Their Gretchen and the Night Danger (2003) won the jury award for Best Short Film at SXSW in 2004 and served as the basis for Collins's feature debut Gretchen (2006), in which Merriman played Ricky. The film won the Target Filmmaker Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival, where the jury praised its "distinctive vision and truthfulness to its characters." Around that time, Merriman starred in Scott Rice's short film Perils in Nude Modeling (2003), a finalist at the Student Academy Awards and winner of Best College Short at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.
Merriman played the lead in Collins's sophomore feature You Hurt My Feelings (2011), which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival and was named a New York Times Critic's Pick; the Austin American-Statesman wrote that he "gives a captivating and heart-aching performance." He starred in Pictures of Superheroes (2012), in which Film Threat found him "at his somewhat crazy-eyed and slightly creepy best." He also starred in the comedy Cinema Six (2012), which featured Bill Hader and premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival, where IndieWire wrote that he "handles comedy and drama with equal ease."
In 2013 he appeared in Yen Tan's Pit Stop, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards; The Moveable Fest singled out his character's first-date scene as "an enjoyable detour that parallels how hard it is for anyone to find love." That same year he took a dramatic turn as an abusive husband in Geoff Marslett's Loves Her Gun, winner of the SXSW Lone Star Award and a New York Times Critic's Pick. Also in 2013, he starred in the music video for Black Joe Lewis's "Come to My Party", directed by Vern Moen. He followed with the ensemble sports comedy Balls Out (2014), another New York Times Critic's Pick, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. He also appeared opposite Larry Miller in Michael Fry's live-action/animated short New Soul (2015), which had its world premiere at the Cinequest Film Festival. On television, Merriman played Zeke in "Austin: End of the Road", the Austin-set episode of the Seeso travel-parody series Hidden America with Jonah Ray (2016).
In Mustang Island (2017), which the Austin Chronicle called "pitch-perfect," Merriman received the Clint Howard Character Actor Award at the Sidewalk Film Festival; the film also won a Special Jury Prize at the Dallas International Film Festival. He appeared in Sister Aimee (2019), a screwball retelling of evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson's disappearance that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, playing one of the two detectives whose interviews structure the film.
In Collins's I've Got Issues (2019), narrated by Jim Gaffigan and likened by the Austin Chronicle to the work of Quentin Dupieux, Todd Solondz, and Tim Heidecker, the New York Times counted him among the "small stable of reliable actors" Collins regularly works with. He appeared as the protagonist's boss in Chris Beier's thriller The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia (2024), winner of the Industry and Programmers' Choice Award at Dances With Films NY; Cinapse singled him out as "the sweetest jerk-boss of all time." In 2025 he portrayed Luciano Pavarotti in Todd Rohal's Fuck My Son!, an X-rated comedy Variety placed in the tradition of underground provocateurs such as John Waters and George Kuchar; it premiered in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Merriman has also performed with Austin's Old Murder House Theater, a troupe whose live re-creations of films Wired described as "equal parts Michel Gondry and midnight madness," in productions including Aliens on Ice, Jurassic Live, and Jaws.
Merriman has appeared as a guest on Office Hours Live with Tim Heidecker. In 2025, he performed in Kill Timmy, Heidecker's live parody of Kill Tony.
Filmmaking
Merriman co-wrote, co-directed, co-produced, and starred in the independent feature My Name Is Buttons (2002) with Courtney Davis. The film won Best in Show at the Red Wasp Film Festival and screened at the IFP Minneapolis Central Standard Film Festival.
With Kerri Lendo, he co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in the short film Sleep Study (2010), which won the Audience Award for Narrative Short at the Austin Film Festival and screened at AFI Fest, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and the Maryland Film Festival. The pair later collaborated on the short films Modern Man and Nobody.
Festival work
From 2004 to 2008, Merriman worked as a programmer for the Austin Film Festival, where he oversaw documentary programming, coordinated marquee screenings, and helped create the Comedy Vanguard section and the Funniest Filmmaker in Austin competition. He has also remained involved with the festival as a moderator and interviewer, hosting filmmaker Q&As, panels, and conversations with guests including Charlie Kaufman, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Larry Wilmore, and Paula Pell, some of which were later broadcast on On Story, a public television series carried in most PBS markets nationwide.
From 2010 to 2012, he worked for SXSW Comedy, assisting with programming and writing for the festival's official blog. His posts included interviews with Kyle Kinane, Chelsea Peretti, and Hari Kondabolu and recaps of SXSW Comedy shows.
From 2012 to 2018, Merriman and Kerri Lendo co-hosted and co-produced Inside Joke, a Moontower Comedy Festival web interview series featuring comedians including Marc Maron, Maria Bamford, and Steven Wright. Merriman also served as Moontower's official year-round blogger and has moderated festival events including a panel with the cast of Barry and a Q&A with Dana Gould and Bobcat Goldthwait.
Selected filmography
Year Title Role Notes 2001 The Ballad of Courtney and James James Short film 2002 My Name Is Buttons Hunter / Buttons also co-writer, co-director, and co-producer 2002 Lonelyland James Short film 2003 Gretchen and the Night Danger Ricky Marichino Short film 2003 Perils in Nude Modeling Ted Minor Short film; finalist, 31st Student Academy Awards 2004 Milton Is a Shitbag Milton Short film 2006 Gretchen Ricky Marichino 2007 A Yeti in the City Det. Mel Ursus / GG Hunters Ghost / Narrator 2010 Sleep Study Therapist Short film; also co-writer and co-director 2011 You Hurt My Feelings John also associate producer 2011 Slacker 2011 Grad Student Segment film 2011 Neptune Calling! Neptune Short film; segment of the omnibus film Orbit(film) 2012 Pictures of Superheroes Joe 2012 Cinema Six Mason 2012 The Man from Orlando DJ 2012 Pirate101 Bishop Video game; voice role 2012 Modern Man Man Short film; also co-writer and co-director 2012 J.P.B.F. Interviewer Short film 2013 Pit Stop Winston 2013 Loves Her Gun Neighbor Don 2014 Balls Out Fireman Premiered as Intramural 2015 New Soul New Soul Short film 2017 Mustang Island John 2019 Sister Aimee Detective Smith 2019 I've Got Issues Various 2019 Sweet Steel The Guy Short film 2024 The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia Noah 2025 Fuck My Son! Luciano Pavarotti
References
External links