Jim Sheridan is one of the fathers of Irish national cinema with Oscar-winning films including My Left Foot (1990) and powerful nation building narratives like The Field (1990) and In the Name of the Father (1993). His recent work has tried to become more internationally appealing with an evocative study of Irish emigrants in America and most controversially his recent biopic of the internationally known black rapper, 50 cent. By examining In America and Get Rich or Die Tryin this article will assess how Sheridan adapts his Irish preoccupations while trying to take on Hollywood. More than any other Irish director, Sheridan uses family, race, otherness, and Americana, in general, to dramatise Ireland’s affinity with America.