Born in 1988, he is the son of a Brazilian mother and an American father. He graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) and worked as the assistant to filmmaker Ramin Bahrani. He directed some short movies, such as The Other Side (2010), Signal (2011), The Parting (2012) and The Person You Love (2015). Socrates (2018), his first feature film, received a Special Mention of the Jury at the 42nd Mostra and was awarded at Independent Spirit Award. 7 Prisoners is his second feature film.