Gregory Nava
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Gregory Nava, a third generation Mexican-American (born April 10, 1949 in San Diego, California) is a film director, producer and screenplay writer, of Mexican and Basque heritage.
Nava attended film school at UCLA where he earned an MFA in 1976. At UCLA he directed the short film The Journal of Diego Rodriguez Silva (based on García Lorca), and for this work, won the Best Dramatic Film Award at the National Student Film Festival. Nava's first feature film, The Confessions of Amans, won the Best First Feature Award at the Chicago International Film Festival.
Later, he came to the attention of Hollywood producers due to the success of his film El Norte, which garnered Nava and his wife Anna Thomas an Academy Award nomination among other accolades, for the screenplay. In 1995 the film was registered by the Library of Congress, National Film Registry. According to New York Times film critic Vincent Canby, El Norte is a film of "great immediacy". Further collaborations with Thomas include "My Family", "A Time of Destiny" and "Frida". Nava had further directing success in 1998 with the film Selena, staring Jennifer Lopez, who was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance
In 2003 Nava began to produce and direct the television series American Family for PBS.
[edit] Personal
Nava met Anna Thomas while working on his master's degree at UCLA. They were married in 1975. They have sons Christopher (1984) and Tedy(1985).
[edit] Films Directed
- Confession of Amans (1977)
- El Norte (1983)
- A Time of Destiny (1988)
- My Family/Mi Familia (1995)
- Selena (1997)
- Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998)
