His father Brendan James Nolan is British and his mother Christina Lynn (née Jensen) is American.

[6] Jonathan also wrote the story springboards for the six animated short films of Batman: Gotham Knight.

[4] Nolan wrote the screenplay for Interstellar, a science-fiction feature based on the works of theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, who served as the film's executive producer.

[10][11][12] Nolan and Lisa Joy wrote a pilot for an adaptation of Westworld, Michael Crichton's 1973 science fiction Western thriller of the same name.

[16] In 2019, it was announced that Nolan and Joy had signed a $150 million deal to create The Peripheral for Amazon Prime Video.

"[6] When contemplating the artistic differences between himself and his brother, Nolan remarked: "I've always suspected that it has something to do with the fact that he's left-handed and I'm right-handed, because he is somehow able to look at my ideas and flip them around in a way that's just a bit more twisted and interesting.

"[20] Nolan is married to Burn Notice writer and Westworld co-creator and executive producer Lisa Joy.