Ash Christian, an Emmy-winning producer, actor, filmmaker and founder of Cranium Entertainment, died in his sleep on Thursday in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He was 35.
Born on January 16, 1985 in Paris, Tex., Christian began writing and directing short films at the age of 14, and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams just two years later. He wrote, directed and starred in his first feature film, “Fat Girls,” in 2006 at just 19 years old. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won an award for exceptional emerging talent at LA Outfest.
In 2014, Christian won a Daytime Emmy for exceptionally special class day format for short format for “mI Promise.” He shared the award with his producing partner Anne Clements and executive producers Lauralee Bell and Scott Martin.
Christian starred in several television series, including “The Good Fight”, “The Good Wife” and “Law and Order”, but found his true calling with production. Under his company, Cranium Entertainment, developed and produced Christian films such as “1985,” “Hurricane Bianca,” “Burn,” “Social Animals” and “Coyote Lake.”
“Ash was a great friend, colleague and partner in crime. He was a champion of indie films and filmmakers and his love for the process of putting films together was infected. My heart goes out to his family, especially his mother. The world lost one of the good ones, ‘Clements said.
Christian and Clements 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.
‘With Ash, work has always been fun. That’s the effect he had on people. I will miss my good friend dearly, as I know so many others will too. The world has lost a talented writer / director / producer, but the most important thing is a great person who had so much more life to live, ”said Christian’s production partner Jordan Yale Levine of Yale Productions,
Christian and Yale Levine had recently worked on “After Everything” with Marissa Tomei, Gina Gershon and Jeremy Allen White, and “Burn” with Josh Hutcherson, Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Suki Waterhouse.
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