Gus Van Sant

Gus Van Sant

A director who is capable of crafting both deeply unconventional independent films and mainstream crowd-pleasers, Gus Van Sant has managed to carve an enviable niche for himself in Hollywood. Since debuting in 1985 with Mala Noche, Van Sant has become one of the premiere bards of dysfunction, populating his films with a parade of hustlers, junkies, psychopathic weather girls, homicidal teens, and troubled geniuses. The son of a traveling salesman, Van Sant was born in Louisville, KY, on July 24, 1952. One constant in the director's early years was his interest in painting and Super-8 filmmaking. Van Sant's artistic leanings took him to the Rhode Island School of Design in 1970, where introduction...read more