Emmy-winning LGBTQ+ activist and filmmaker Ash Christian passes away at age 35

The Outfest alum was the founder of Cranium Entertainment

Dallas native, Ash Christian, an Emmy Award winning producer, actor filmmaker and LGBTQ+ activist passed away in his sleep on Friday, August 14, 2020 while vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He was 35 years old. 

Ash was a prolific filmmaker with numerous projects in various stages of production including but not limited to many set to start filming this year like  “As Sick As They Made Us” Mayim Bialik’s directorial debut starring Dustin Hoffman, Candice Bergen and Simon Helberg “Nightfall” with Matt Bomer and Sam Worthington, directed by Addison McQuigg (Bloodline) and “The Sixth Reel”, directed by and starring Charles Busch and co-directed by Carl Andress. 

“Ash was a great friend, colleague and partner in crime. He was a champion of indie film and filmmakers and his love of the process of putting movies together was infectious. My heart goes out to his family, especially his mother. The world lost one of the good ones.” Said longtime friend and producing partner Anne Clements, with whom he had a few new releases in the works, including “Chick Fight” with Malin Akerman, Fortune Feimster and Alec Baldwin coming out this fall and “Paper Spiders”, featuring Lili Taylor, Max Casella and Peyton List, to name a few. 

“With Ash, work was always fun. That’s the effect he had on people. I will miss my good friend dearly, as I know so many others will as well. The world has lost a talented writer/director/producer, but most importantly, a great person who had so much more life to live.”  Said longtime friend and producing partner Jordan Yale Levine of Yale Productions, with whom Ash had recently worked on “After Everything” with Marisa Tomei, Gina Gershon and Jeremy Allen White, and “Burn” with Josh Hutcherson, Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Suki Waterhouse.  

Ash’s love for entertainment began in a little community theatre in Paris, Texas.  A rare talent and rising star, at the tender age of 14 years old he began writing and directing short films. At 16, he took off to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams of being an actor. At 19, he wrote, starred and directed his first feature film, “Fat Girls” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won the Outstanding Emerging Talent Award at L.A. Outfest 2006.  Ash was also known for several of his television roles starring in “The Good Fight”, “The Good Wife” and “Law and Order”. 

Under his own company, Cranium Entertainment, Ash developed and produced thought-provoking feature films for both specialized and mainstream audiences. He went on to produce dozens of award-winning films and productions just to name a few: “Hurricane Bianca”, “1985”, “Hello Again”, “Social Animals” and “Coyote Lake”.  Ash was based in Dallas and had lived in New York where he also had his hand in Broadway producing, including the award-winning musical, “Next to Normal”.  He was a proud gay man who truly lived his dream of being a successful filmmaker was adored by so many around the globe.  

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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