Gregory Nava
Encyclopedia
Gregory Nava is a film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

 and screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

 writer, of Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....

 and Basque
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

 heritage.

Education

Nava graduated from St. Augustine High School in San Diego and went on to attended film school
Film school
The term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...

 at UCLA where he earned an MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...

 in 1976. At UCLA he directed the short film The Journal of Diego Rodriguez Silva (based on the life of García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...

), and for this work, won the Best Dramatic Film Award at the National Student Film Festival.

Career

While an instructor at Moorpark College
Moorpark College
Moorpark College is a California state college located on a property reclining on a hill in Moorpark, a town in Ventura County, California. It was established in 1967 and as of 2006, had an enrollment of 16,580 students and 175 full-time faculty members....

 teaching classes in cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...

, Nava's first feature film, The Confessions of Amans
The Confessions of Amans (film)
The Confessions of Amans is an American 16mm drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and his then newly wed wife Anna Thomas.The picture was partly funded by the American Film Institute.-Plot:...

,
won the Best First Feature Award at the Chicago International Film Festival
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....

 in 1976. Later, he came to the attention of Hollywood
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

 producers due to the success of El Norte
El Norte (film)
El Norte is an American and British film, directed by Gregory Nava. The screenplay was written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The movie was first presented at the Telluride Film Festival in 1983, and its wide release was in January 1984....

,
which garnered Nava and his wife Anna Thomas
Anna Thomas
Anna Thomas is a film screenwriter, film producer and writer. She was born in Stuttgart, Germany, to a Polish family and came to the United States as an infant. She grew up in Michigan and California....

 an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 nomination, among other accolades, for the screenplay. In 1995 the film was registered by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...

, National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...

. According to Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...

film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

, "El Norte tells the story with astonishing visual beauty, with unashamed melodrama, with anger leavened by hope. It is a Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath (film)
The Grapes of Wrath is a 1940 drama film directed by John Ford. It was based on John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was Darryl F...

for our time."

Further collaborations with his wife Thomas include: The Confessions of Amans
The Confessions of Amans (film)
The Confessions of Amans is an American 16mm drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and his then newly wed wife Anna Thomas.The picture was partly funded by the American Film Institute.-Plot:...

,
A Time of Destiny
A Time of Destiny (film)
A Time of Destiny is an American drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The story is based on the opera La forza del destino by Verdi. The motion picture was executive produced by Shep Gordon and Carolyn Pfeiffer...

,
My Family
My Family (film)
My Family is an American drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The motion picture stars Jimmy Smits, Edward James Olmos, Esai Morales, and others. It also features Jennifer Lopez in her second film role....

,
and Frida
Frida
Frida is a 2002 biographical film which depicts the professional and private life of the surrealist Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. It stars Salma Hayek in her Academy Award nominated portrayal as Kahlo and Alfred Molina as her husband, Diego Rivera....

(screenplay), and other works.

Nava had further directing success in 1997 with the film Selena
Selena (film)
Selena is a 1997 American biographical drama film about the life and career of the late Tejano music star Selena, a recording artist who was well known in the Mexican-American and Hispanic communities in the United States and Mexico before she was shot to death at the age of twenty-three.The movie...

,
starring Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...

, who was nominated for the Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...

 for Best Actress.

From 2003 to 2004, Nava executive produced the television series American Family: Journey of Dreams for PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

. He also directed a few episodes.

Recent projects

In 2006, Nava produced, wrote, and directed the film Bordertown which made its debut at the Berlin Film Festival on February 15, 2007. The film, based on true events, is a political
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

 thriller about a series of unsolved murder
Female homicides in Ciudad Juárez
The phenomenon of the female homicides in Ciudad Juárez, called in Spanish the feminicidios and las muertas de Juárez , involves the violent deaths of hundreds of women since 1993 in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, a border city across the Rio Grande from the U.S. city of El...

s in Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...

, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. It stars Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...

 as a Chicago-based
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 reporter who follows the story. The film was shot in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

 and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

Filmography

  • The Confessions of Amans
    The Confessions of Amans (film)
    The Confessions of Amans is an American 16mm drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and his then newly wed wife Anna Thomas.The picture was partly funded by the American Film Institute.-Plot:...

    (1977).
  • The End of August (1982), screenplay only.
  • El Norte
    El Norte (film)
    El Norte is an American and British film, directed by Gregory Nava. The screenplay was written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The movie was first presented at the Telluride Film Festival in 1983, and its wide release was in January 1984....

    (1983).
  • A Time of Destiny
    A Time of Destiny (film)
    A Time of Destiny is an American drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The story is based on the opera La forza del destino by Verdi. The motion picture was executive produced by Shep Gordon and Carolyn Pfeiffer...

    (1988).
  • My Family/Mi Familia
    My Family (film)
    My Family is an American drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The motion picture stars Jimmy Smits, Edward James Olmos, Esai Morales, and others. It also features Jennifer Lopez in her second film role....

    (1995).
  • Selena
    Selena (film)
    Selena is a 1997 American biographical drama film about the life and career of the late Tejano music star Selena, a recording artist who was well known in the Mexican-American and Hispanic communities in the United States and Mexico before she was shot to death at the age of twenty-three.The movie...

    (1997).
  • Why Do Fools Fall in Love
    Why Do Fools Fall in Love (film)
    Why Do Fools Fall in Love is an American romantic drama, directed by Gregory Nava and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film is a biographical film of the brief but intense life of R&B/Rock & Roll singer Frankie Lymon, lead singer of the pioneering rock and roll group Frankie Lymon & the...

    (1998).
  • Frida
    Frida
    Frida is a 2002 biographical film which depicts the professional and private life of the surrealist Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. It stars Salma Hayek in her Academy Award nominated portrayal as Kahlo and Alfred Molina as her husband, Diego Rivera....

    (2002), screenplay only.
  • Bordertown (2007).

Television

  • The 20th Century: American Tapestry (1999, Documentary)
  • American Family: Journey of Dreams
    American Family: Journey of Dreams
    American Family: Journey of Dreams is a PBS series created by Gregory Nava that follows the lives of a Latino family in Los Angeles.This was the first broadcast television drama series featuring a predominantly Latino cast...

    (2002–2004)

Awards

Wins
  • Chicago International Film Festival
    Chicago International Film Festival
    The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....

    : Gold Hugo Award, Best First Feature Award, for The Confessions of Amans
    The Confessions of Amans (film)
    The Confessions of Amans is an American 16mm drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and his then newly wed wife Anna Thomas.The picture was partly funded by the American Film Institute.-Plot:...

    ; 1976.
  • Montréal World Film Festival: Grand Prix des Amériques, for El Norte
    El Norte (film)
    El Norte is an American and British film, directed by Gregory Nava. The screenplay was written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The movie was first presented at the Telluride Film Festival in 1983, and its wide release was in January 1984....

    ; 1983.
  • Donostia-San Sebastián International Film Festival: OCIC Award, for My Family
    My Family (film)
    My Family is an American drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The motion picture stars Jimmy Smits, Edward James Olmos, Esai Morales, and others. It also features Jennifer Lopez in her second film role....

    ; 1995.
  • Bravo Awards
    Alma Award
    The American Latino Media Arts Award, or ALMA Award is a distinction awarded to Latino performers who promote positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment field...

    : Outstanding Feature Film, for My Family
    My Family (film)
    My Family is an American drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The motion picture stars Jimmy Smits, Edward James Olmos, Esai Morales, and others. It also features Jennifer Lopez in her second film role....

    ; 1995.
  • Taos Talking Picture Festival: Cineaste Award, 1995.
  • ALMA Award: Outstanding Latino Director of a Feature Film, for Selena
    Selena (film)
    Selena is a 1997 American biographical drama film about the life and career of the late Tejano music star Selena, a recording artist who was well known in the Mexican-American and Hispanic communities in the United States and Mexico before she was shot to death at the age of twenty-three.The movie...

    ; 1997.
  • ALMA Award
    Alma Award
    The American Latino Media Arts Award, or ALMA Award is a distinction awarded to Latino performers who promote positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment field...

    : Outstanding Latino Director of a Feature Film, for Why Do Fools Fall in Love
    Why Do Fools Fall in Love (film)
    Why Do Fools Fall in Love is an American romantic drama, directed by Gregory Nava and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film is a biographical film of the brief but intense life of R&B/Rock & Roll singer Frankie Lymon, lead singer of the pioneering rock and roll group Frankie Lymon & the...

    ; 1998.
  • Santa Fe Film Festival
    Santa Fe Film Festival
    The Santa Fe Film Festival is a Non-Profit Organization which presents important world cinema in a non-commercial context that represents aesthetic, critical and entertainment standards highlighting New Mexican film, new American and foreign film including revivals, retrospectives, independent...

    : Luminaria Award; 2006.


Nominations
  • Academy Awards
    Academy Awards
    An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

    : Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, for El Norte; 1983.
  • Writers Guild of America Award
    Writers Guild of America Award
    The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...

    : Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, for El Norte; 1983.
  • Donostia-San Sebastián International Film Festival: Golden Seashell Award, for My Family
    My Family (film)
    My Family is an American drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The motion picture stars Jimmy Smits, Edward James Olmos, Esai Morales, and others. It also features Jennifer Lopez in her second film role....

    ; 1995.
  • Emmy Awards: Outstanding Miniseries, for American Family: Journey of Dreams, for episode "Journey of Dreams"; 2002.
  • Berlin International Film Festival
    Berlin International Film Festival
    The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...

    : Golden Berlin Bear, Gregory Nava; for Bordertown; 2007.

Films

Information
The Confessions of Amans
The Confessions of Amans (film)
The Confessions of Amans is an American 16mm drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and his then newly wed wife Anna Thomas.The picture was partly funded by the American Film Institute.-Plot:...

  • Released: November 17, 1977
  • U.S. sales:
  • Worldwide sales:
El Norte
El Norte (film)
El Norte is an American and British film, directed by Gregory Nava. The screenplay was written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The movie was first presented at the Telluride Film Festival in 1983, and its wide release was in January 1984....

  • Released: January 11, 1984
  • U.S. sales:
  • Worldwide sales:
  • A Time of Destiny
    A Time of Destiny (film)
    A Time of Destiny is an American drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The story is based on the opera La forza del destino by Verdi. The motion picture was executive produced by Shep Gordon and Carolyn Pfeiffer...

  • Released: April 22, 1988
  • U.S. sales:
  • Worldwide sales:
  • My Family
    My Family (film)
    My Family is an American drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The motion picture stars Jimmy Smits, Edward James Olmos, Esai Morales, and others. It also features Jennifer Lopez in her second film role....

  • Released: May 3, 1995
  • U.S. sales: $11 million
  • Worldwide sales:
  • Selena
    Selena (film)
    Selena is a 1997 American biographical drama film about the life and career of the late Tejano music star Selena, a recording artist who was well known in the Mexican-American and Hispanic communities in the United States and Mexico before she was shot to death at the age of twenty-three.The movie...

  • Released: March 21, 1997
  • U.S. sales: $35.5 million
  • Worldwide sales:
  • Why Do Fools Fall in Love
    Why Do Fools Fall in Love (film)
    Why Do Fools Fall in Love is an American romantic drama, directed by Gregory Nava and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film is a biographical film of the brief but intense life of R&B/Rock & Roll singer Frankie Lymon, lead singer of the pioneering rock and roll group Frankie Lymon & the...

  • Released: August 28, 1998
  • U.S. sales:
  • Worldwide sales:
  • Bordertown
  • Released: February 15, 2007
  • U.S. sales:
  • Worldwide sales:

  • External links

    • Gregory Nava informational web site
    • Cineaste interview by Dennis West
    • PBS interview of Gregory Nava with Bill Moyers
      Bill Moyers
      Bill Moyers is an American journalist and public commentator. He served as White House Press Secretary in the United States President Lyndon B. Johnson Administration from 1965 to 1967. He worked as a news commentator on television for ten years. Moyers has had an extensive involvement with public...

    • San Diego Film Festival honors Gregory Nava
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