Kyle Rankin

Rankin was born in Danbury, Connecticut and attended the University of Maine, where he was the president of the student video club, and was a winner at the Maine Student Film and Video Festival.^[2][3] As a college student, Rankin was the star and co-producer, along with Efram Potelle, of a movie called Dorm. The film was originally intended to be a serial for campus TV, but ended up being a campus-murder mystery. The pair convinced their friends to appear in the film, and received donations from campus organizations, which they used to rent out empty dorm rooms as a set. The film took 3½ months to make, and was shown in Maine theaters, and was available to rent from video stores in Maine.^[4][5]

Rankin co-directed The Battle of Shaker Heights through the second season of HBO's Project Greenlight.^[6] He wrote and directed a movie produced by Icon Productions, called Infestation, starring Chris Marquette, Ray Wise, Brooke Nevin; it was shot in the summer of 2007 in Bulgaria.^[7] He created the feature/web-series Nuclear Family, and the indie features Night of the Living Deb and The Witch Files.^[2][8] Run Hide Fight was filmed in Red Oak, Texas in the fall of 2019 and stars Isabel May, Thomas Jane, and Radha Mitchell.^[9] The film was screened at the Venice Film Festival in 2020.^[1] The Daily Wire acquired North American rights to the film and it premiered on their subscription platform on January 14, 2021.^[10]

In February 2026, it was reported that Rankin reteamed with The Daily Wire to direct an untitled action thriller produced by Bonfire Legend and starring Jonathan Majors.^[11] The film is reportedly a standalone sequel to Run Hide Fight titled Run Hide Fight Infidels. However, production was reportedly plagued with several injuries, labor issues, and accidents, with several crew members lobbying to unionize.^[12]

As of 2020, Rankin lives in Encino, California with his wife and daughters.^[2]