L. Gustavo Cooper

Gustavo Cooper was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. His mother, a
Costa Rican immigrant and his father an Air Force E.M.T met in
1983 and started a family shortly after. Things took a terrible turn
after his parents divorced. His mother became addicted to heroin
and was murdered by her boyfriend. He and his sister were
bounced around foster homes until his Grandmother finally gained
custody of them, in 1989. They then moved to Jacksonville,
Florida.
In a predominantly white neighborhood/school he was subjected to
bigotry and ridicule due to his Latino heritage. He was able to find
sanctuary in skateboarding. In 1998 this started him down a
successful skateboarding career, which was his initial introduction
to the world of filmmaking.
He had made the decision to drop out of high school to begin
making skate videos to extend sponsorships and promote himself.
His natural talent was recognized by 411 Magazine which led to
the production of Chronicles of Gnarnia, an episodic web series
documenting skateboarders and life.
Goals shifted when he decided to enroll himself into a Bachelor’s
program in film. During his academic venture he dabbled in music
videos, short films, and commercials. All of which started gaining
international recognition, numerous Addy Awards and an Emmy for
his work on a commercial campaign titled “Artivore”.
In December 2013 he left his position as a Creative Director at a
Digital Video Arts company and moved to California with his wife to
pursue a career as a Writer/Director. Over the last 8 years he’s
directed many short films and has just completed a feature film
titled “Crawlspace” which stars Henry Thomas (Midnight
Mass), Jennifer Robertson (Schitt’s Creek) and Olivia Taylor
Dudley (The Magicians).