Ash Christian Dies: Emmy Award Winning Producer-Actor-Filmmaker Was 35
Ash Christian, an Emmy Award-winning producer, actor and filmmaker, died in his sleep on Thursday, August 14 while vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He was 35 years old.
A prolific filmmaker with numerous projects in various stages of production, including many set to start filming this year. Under his own company, Cranium Entertainment, Christian 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, including Hurricane Bianca, 1985, Hello Again, Social Animals, and Coyote Lake.
His current projects included 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; Chick Fight with Malin Akerman, Fortune Feimster, and Alec Baldwin; and Paper Spiders, featuring Lili Taylor, Max Casella and Peyton List.
“Ash was a great friend, colleague and partner in crime,” said friend and producing partner Anne Clements. “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.”
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Producing partner Jordan Yale Levine, who recently worked with Christian on After Everything with Marissa Tomei, Gina Gershon and Jeremy Allen White, said working with him 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.”
Christian began his career in community theater in Paris, Texas. He began writing and directing short films at age 14, and then left for Los Angeles at age 16 to pursue acting.
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. Christian was also known for several of his television roles, starring in The Good Fight, The Good Wife, and Law and Order.
Christian 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.
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