Alex Garland

LOS ANGELES – MAR 02: Creator/EP/Director Garland arrives for FX’s Limited Series “Devs” Los Angeles Premiere on March 02, 2020 in Hollywood, CA, DFree/Bigstock.com

Birth Name: Alexander Medawar Garland

Place of Birth: Westminster, London, England, U.K.

Date of Birth: 26 May, 1970

Ethnicity: English, one eighth Lebanese, 1/16th Scottish, around 1/64th Afrikaner [Dutch, German, as well as remote Belgian, Indonesian, and Angolan]

Alex Garland is a British novelist, screenwriter, and director. He has written the films 28 Days Later, Sunshine (2007), Never Let Me Go, and Dredd (2012), and directed and written the films Ex Machina, Annihilation (2018), Men (2022), and Civil War (2024). He also created, directed, and wrote the mini-series Devs, and wrote the novels The Beach (1996), The Tesseract, and The Coma (2004). In gaming, he co-wrote Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and was story supervisor on DmC: Devil May Cry.

Alex is the son of psychologist Caroline Medawar and political cartoonist Nicholas Garland (Nicholas Withycombe Garland). He is the maternal grandson of Sir Peter Brian Medawar, a biologist and writer, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1969, and author Jean Shinglewood Medawar, Lady Medawar. Alex is married to actress and director Paloma Baeza, with whom he has two children.

Alex’s paternal grandfather was Thomas Onsworth/Ownsworth “Tom” Garland (the son of John Onsworth Garland and Mildred Sarah Weekes). Thomas was born in Surrey, England, and was a physician. John was born in Yorkshire, the son of Harry Garland and Martha Elizabeth Onsworth/Ownsworth. Mildred was born in Ireland, to English parents, Thomas Earle Weekes and Sophia Stocker.

Alex’s paternal grandmother was Margaret “Peggy” Garland (born Margaret Withycombe, the daughter of John Gidley Withycombe and Ellen Hannah Bell). Margaret was born in England, and was a portrait sculptor. John was born in Somerset, the son of John Withycombe and Elizabeth Gidley.

Alex’s maternal grandfather was Sir Peter Brian Medawar (the son of Nicholas Agnatius Medawar and Edith Muriel Dowling). Peter was born in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and was a well-known scientist, biologist, and writer. He was known as the “father of [organ and tissue] transplantation,” for his work on graft rejection and discovery of acquired immune tolerance. Alex’s great-grandfather Nicholas was born in Jounieh, Mount Lebanon, to a Christian Maronite family, and was the son of Agnatius Medawar and Ziara. Alex’s great-grandmother Edith was born in Middlesex, England, the daughter of Charles Edmund Dowling and Constance E. Briggs.

Alex’s maternal grandmother was author Jean Shinglewood Medawar, Lady Medawar (born Jean Shinglewood Taylor, the daughter of Charles Henry Shinglewood Taylor and Katherine Leslie Paton). Jean was born in London, England, and was chair of U.K. charity Family Planning Association. Alex’s great-grandfather Charles was born in Africa, and was a physician. He was the son of Henry Shinglewood Taylor, who was English, from Essex; and of Beatrice Aletta Bell, who was from South Africa, and was of English, and some Afrikaner, descent. Alex’s great-grandmother Katherine was born in Missouri, U.S., the daughter of Alexander Allan Paton, who was Scottish, and of Marie Crowshaw, who was from New York.

Sources: Genealogy of Alex Garland – https://www.geni.com

Alex’s paternal grandfather, Thomas Onsworth/Ownsworth Garland, on the 1911 England and Wales Census – http://familysearch.org

Information on Alex’s paternal grandmother, Margaret “Peggy” (Withycombe) Garland – http://suffolkartists.co.uk

Genealogies of Alex’s maternal grandparents, Sir Peter Brian Medawar and Jean Shinglewood Taylor – http://familysearch.org