Ashley Avis facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ashley Avis
Portrait by Alexandra Petruck
Born	(1987-01-27) 27 January 1987 (age 38) Chicago, Illinois
Alma mater	Manhattan College
Occupation	Film director screenwriter editor producer
Years active	2009–present
Spouse(s)	Edward Winters ​ (m. 2015)​

Ashley Avis (born January 27, 1987) is an American filmmaker. She writes, directs, edits, and produces movies. You might know her work from Disney's film Black Beauty (2020). This movie starred famous actors like Kate Winslet and Mackenzie Foy.

Ashley Avis also made the documentary Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West. This film was even nominated for a Critics Choice award! Besides making movies, she is also a journalist and author. Her writing has appeared in well-known magazines like Rolling Stone.

Early Life and Education

Ashley Avis was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents are Richard Avis and Victoria Woods. She has one younger brother, also named Richard. When she was five years old, her family moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. This is where Ashley grew up.

From age seven to seventeen, Ashley was a competitive horse rider. She competed in hunter/jumper events in Florida.

Ashley always wanted to be a writer. She thought she would write books for young adults. She went to college in New York at Manhattan College. She studied International Business and Marketing. She finished her degree in just three years, graduating in 2008.

While in college, she worked in different jobs. She was a real estate agent, a web designer, and a journalist for Nielsen Media. She even became a regional editor there. Later, she tried theater in Manhattan. This experience made her interested in writing screenplays for movies.

Her Film Career

In 2009, Ashley Avis moved to Los Angeles, California. She saved money to make her first TV show pilot called The Cynical Life. Since she didn't have enough money to hire a producer or director, she did those jobs herself. This project caught the eye of Lionsgate founder Frank Giustra. He helped produce three episodes. After that, Ashley directed and produced a classical music documentary called Opus X.

In 2010, Ashley started her own company, Alchemy Pictures. She began directing and producing commercials for big brands. Some of her clients included Mercedes-Benz, Coca-Cola, Red Bull, and Pfizer.

In 2015, Ashley Avis directed her first full-length movie. It was a thriller called Deserted. She also wrote the story for this film and produced it. The movie was edited by Douglas Crise. In 2016, she directed her second movie, Adolescence. This was a coming-of-age story starring India Eisley and Elisabeth Rohm. The film also featured music by John Driskell Hopkins from the Zac Brown Band.

In 2016, Ashley went to Cape Town, South Africa. She won an award from Mercedes-Benz for her film Bespoke at a film festival there. In 2018, she worked with Oscar winner Cloris Leachman on a film called Being and Nothingness.

In 2019, she started a big documentary project. It took five years to make! This film was Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West.

In 2020, Ashley Avis wrote, directed, and edited Black Beauty. This movie was made for Disney+ and Constantin Film. It was based on the classic book by Anna Sewell. The film starred Oscar winner Kate Winslet, Mackenzie Foy, and Iain Glen.

From 2022 to 2023, her documentary Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West was shown at film festivals. The movie aims to teach people about the wild horses disappearing from lands in the Western United States. Wild Beauty first showed at the Breckenridge Film Festival in 2022. In 2023, Ashley received a special award from Congresswoman Dina Titus. This was for her work helping America's wild horses. The film was nominated for a Critics Choice award in 2023. It was also named a top movie for the 2024 Oscars by magazines like Variety and Hollywood Reporter.

Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West has won many awards. These include "Best Documentary" at the 2022 Boston Film Festival and the Joe Williams award at the 2022 St. Louis International Film Festival. Ashley also won "Best Director" for it at DOCLA in 2022.

In July 2024, Ashley Avis was chosen to write and direct a movie called American Wolf for Apple Original Films. This film is based on a book by Nate Blakeslee. It will be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio's company, Appian Way Productions.

Ashley is also set to write and direct a new version of the movie City of Angels for Warner Bros. The producer for this film is Charles Roven, who also produced Oppenheimer. Recently, Ashley Avis became the first Western woman to direct a movie in Saudi Arabia. This film was called "The Lamb."

Helping Others

After making the film Black Beauty, Ashley Avis started a non-profit organization. It's called The Wild Beauty Foundation. This group helps rescue wild and domestic horses that need help. They also teach people about horses through movies and educational programs for children.

In 2021, she started a program called "A Day With a Horse." This program is for patients at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Ashley has also talked to children all over the country. She encourages them to protect the environment. She even helps them write letters to their government leaders to protect wild horses. In 2022, a wild horse that Ashley rescued was adopted by Mackenzie Foy. Mackenzie Foy was a star in the Black Beauty movie. She is also an Ambassador for The Wild Beauty Foundation.

Personal Life

Ashley Avis met her husband, Edward Winters, in 2013. He is also her producing partner. They got engaged in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. They were married on June 6, 2015.

Filmography