Award-Winning Gay Producer, Actor, Director Ash Christian Dead at 35

Lauded producer, actor, director, and writer Ash Christian recently died in his sleep while vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

A native of Paris, Texas, Christian operated his own successful New York-based film production company, Cranium Entertainment. Cranium and Christian recently released the acclaimed AIDS drama 1985, directed by Yen Tan and starring Cory Michael Smith and Virginia Madsen. Christian also produced Hurricane Bianca, a 2016 film starring RuPaul's Drag Race winner Bianca Del Rio. At the time of his death, Christian had several other films in various stages of production starring high-profile actors like Lili Taylor, Dustin Hoffman, Fortune Feimster, Marissa Tomei, Gina Gershon, and Josh Hutcherson.

American Beauty actress Thora Birch, who starred in the 2019 film Kindred Spirits, which Christian co-produced, tweeted he was, "One of my very few truly wonderful friends. He was genuinely hilarious and to lose him is just... I can't even say."

Christian caught Hollywood's attention in 2006 with his independent film, Fat Girls, which he also wrote and co-starred in. The movie, co-starring Ashley Fink and Boys in the Band's Robin De Jesus, was a hit at Outfest, Los Angeles's LGBTQ+ film festival; Christian won the Outfest award for emerging talent.

Christian's talents also extended to television, where he appeared on dramas like The Good Wife, The Good Fight, and Law & Order. Christian won a Daytime Emmy in 2014 for his program, ml Promise.