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An Asian-American raised in Southern California, Gregg Araki made his first screen debut in 1987, " Three Bewildered People in the Night" on a budget of $5000. The film was essentially a love triangle between a struggling video artist, her gay male friend and her boyfriend. Gregg's second film, The Long Weekend was also of the same budget but slightly differed in its script which looks at a group of college friends who come to realize the futility of retrieving the bygone days.
With the release of his third film, "The Living End" in 1992, Araki came to be recognized as the leading man in "Queer New Wave Cinema". The Living End is about two men having HIV- positive blood group. It is about the discovery of a brutal society where AIDS and prejudice are ineluctable realities. Araki's fourth film featured in 1993. "Totally F***ed Up" is a characterization of six teenage people who are gays and lesbians.
They are depicted as victims of AIDS, suicide, homophobia, despair, depression,and drugs. One other film of Gregg is The Doom Generation of 1995 which was basically an extended version of The Living End. The cast supporting in this movie were such prominent personalities as Heidi Fleiss, Lauren Tewes and Christopher Knight. Released in 1995, Nowhere is Araki's perspective of the relationship between the youth going through their post-high school phase in Los Angeles.
His subsequent films included the romantic comedy-Splendor. Gregg also directed an MTV series called This is How The World Ends. In the year 2005, Araki directed the very well received Mysterious Skin which was based on a novel written by Scott Heim. This film earned him an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for the Best Director. Although, Araki had been dating actress Kathleen Robertson in 1996 and who also featured in his film-Nowhere, their relation was short lived.
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