Portal:Oregon/Selected biography/14

Gus Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American Academy Award-nominated film director, photographer, musician, and author. Born in Kentucky, the family moved around with Van Sant living in a variety of cities, but he graduated from The Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon before attending the Rhode Island School of Design in 1970. He started as a painter, but later changed his major to cinema. After school he went to Europe and then Los Angeles where in 1976 he got a job working for Ken Shapiro. His experiences in LA led to a 1981 film he filmed titled Alice in Hollywood which was never released. He would move to New York and work in advertising for a time, using the money he earned for film projects. Van Sant would return to Portland where he would work as an independent film maker and produce films such as Drugstore Cowboy. Later works include Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, and Finding Forrester. As an actor, Van Sant has appeared in a cameo on screen in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back playing himself. He has written the screenplays for most of his early movies, and has written one novel, Pink. As a musician, Van Sant has released two albums: Gus Van Sant and 18 Songs About Golf. The openly gay writer, director, and musician lives in Portland.