Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Achievement in Directing for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, and won the Palme d'Or at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival for his film Elephant. He lives in Portland, Oregon. His early career was devoted to directing television commercials in the Pacific Northwest. In his films, he has dealt with themes concerning homosexuality and other marginalized subcultures. His filmography as writer and director includes an adaptation of Tom Robbins' novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, which features a diverse cast (Keanu Reeves, Roseanne Barr, Uma Thurman, and k.d. lang, with cameos by William S. Burroughs and Heather Graham, among others); and My Own Private Idaho, also starring Reeves as well as River Phoenix. He wrote the screenplays for most of his early movies, and wrote one novel, Pink. A book of his photography has also been published, called 108 Portraits.

Filmography

• 2026Dead Man's Wire — Director
• 2024The Trainer — Gus Van Sant
• 2023Andy by Gus — Music
• 2021Joe Gives Up and Moves to Montana — Producer
• Ouverture Of Something That Never Ended — Creator
• 2020Ouverture of Something That Never Ended — Director, Writer
• 2019Zeroville — Film Archive Curator
• 2018Age Out — Executive Producer
• 2018Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot — Willamette Week Editor, Director, Screenplay, Story
• 2018Thank You for Supporting the Arts
• 2017Ain't It Funny — Dad
• FEUD — Executive Producer, Director
• When We Rise — Executive Producer, Director
• 2016Certain Women — Thanks
• 2016The Sea of Trees — Director
• 2015I Am Michael — Executive Producer
• 2013Strutter — Thanks
• 2013The Canyons — Dr. Campbell
• 2012Laurence Anyways — Executive Producer
• 2012My Own Private River — Director
• 2012Promised Land — Director, Executive Producer
• Boss — Executive Producer, Director
• Portlandia — Gus Van Sant
• 2011Restless — Director, Producer
• 2011Two Films, One Legacy
• 2010Howl — Executive Producer
• 2010I'm Still Here — Thanks
• 2010Shit Year — Thanks
• 2010Virginia — Executive Producer
• 2009Accidents Happen — Thanks
• 20088 — Director, Editor
• 2008Making Paranoid Park
• 2008Mansion on the Hill — Director
• 2008Milk — Director, Sound Re-Recording Mixer
• 2007Paranoid Park — Guy Reading Newspaper (uncredited), Director, Screenplay, Editor
• 2007To Each His Own Cinema — Director
• 2006Best of Chris Isaak — Director
• 2006Cinema16: American Short Films — Director
• 2006Le Marais — Writer, Director
• 2006Paris Je T'aime — Director, Writer
• 2006Wild Tigers I Have Known — Executive Producer
• 2005Last Days — Phone Voice (voice), Director, Screenplay, Editor
• Entourage — Gus Van Sant
• 2004On the Set of 'Elephant': Rolling Through Time — Himself, Executive Producer
• 2003Elephant — Screenplay, Editor, Director
• 2003Tarnation — Executive Producer
• 2002David Bowie: Best of Bowie — Director
• 2002Gerry — Editor, Director, Writer
• 2001Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back — Gus Van Sant
• 2000De Witt Clinton Choir — Director
• 2000Easter — Director
• 2000Finding Forrester — Library Assistant (uncredited), Director
• 1999Psycho Path — Self - Director, Executive Producer
• 1999Speedway Junky — Executive Producer
• 1999The Making of Drugstore Cowboy
• 1998Psycho — Man Talking to Man in Cowboy Hat (uncredited), Producer, Director
• 1997Ballad of the Skeletons — Writer, Director
• 1997Good Will Hunting — Director, Sound Re-Recording Mixer
• 1996Four Boys in a Volvo — Director
• 1995Guns on the Clackamas
• 1995Kids — Executive Producer
• 1995To Die For — Director
• 1994Even Cowgirls Get the Blues — Director, Writer, Editor, Executive Producer
• 1991Flea Sings — Director
• 1991My Own Private Idaho — Man Behind Hotel Counter (uncredited), Director, Screenplay
• 1991Thanksgiving Prayer — Director, Producer
• 1989Drugstore Cowboy — Himself (uncredited), Screenplay, Director
• 1988Junior — Himself, Director
• 1988Ken Death Gets Out of Jail — Director
• 1987Five Ways to Kill Yourself — Director, Writer
• 1987Mala Noche — Guy at Hotel (uncredited), Producer, Director, Editor, Screenplay
• 1987My New Friend — Director
• 1985Switzerland — Director
• 1982The Discipline of D.E. — Director
• 1979Property — Sound
• 1979Psycho Shampoo — Director
• 19731/2 of a Telephone Conversation — Director
• 1972Little Johnny — Director
• 1971The Happy Organ — Director
• Antinous — Producer
• Explain it Like I’m Five — Director
• Killing Gawker — Director
• Last Days — Original Film Writer
• My Friend — Director
• Nightmare Typhoon — Gus, Director
• Untitled Hoyt Richards Film — Director

Appearances as themselves (26)

• 2023Nicole Kidman: Eyes Wide Open — Self (interview)
• 2019At the Video Store — Self
• 2018Illegal Civilization 3 — Self
• 2016Xavier Dolan: Bound to Impossible — Self
• 2015About Cinema — Self
• 2015I Don't Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman — Self
• 2012A Special Day — Self
• 2012Reflecting on a Journey: Good Will Hunting 15 Years Later — Self
• The Greatest Event in Television History — Self
• 2011The Advocate for Fagdom — Self
• The Story of Film: An Odyssey — Self
• 2010William S. Burroughs: A Man Within — Self
• 2008Critic — Self
• 2007Here’s Looking at You, Boy — Self
• 2007In the Mood for Doyle — Self
• 2006Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema — Self
• Leçon de Cinéma — Self
• 2004The Making of Last Days — Self
• 2003About Elephant — Self
• 2003Saltlake Van Sant — Self
• 2001Rescued from the Closet — Self
• 1998Strange Parallel — Self
• 1998The Director's Vision: Hollywood's Best Discuss Their Craft — himself
• Hi Octane — Self
• 1993Made in the USA — Self
• 1991Red Hot Chili Peppers - Funky Monks — Self