Victor Salva

Victor Ronald Salva (born March 29, 1958) is an American film director, mostly of horror movies. His body of work includes the films Powder and Jeepers Creepers.

Early life and career
Salva was born into a conservative Catholic family in Martinez, California. His biological father abandoned the family and Salva reports that the stepfather was often drunk and physically abusive.

One of his favorite pastimes as a kid was watching Creature Features on television and is a self-confessed "Jaws baby".

In 1986, he made the low budget horror film Something in the Basement which attracted the attention of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, who in turn helped Salva finance his first feature-length film, Clownhouse (1989), and many subsequent films.

Criminal convictions
While directing Clownhouse, Salva, then 29, molested one of the film's actors, 12-year-old Nathan Forrest Winters. The sexual acts were videotaped by Salva, who pleaded guilty to one count of lewd and lascivious conduct, one count of oral copulation with a person under 14, and three counts of procuring child pornography. Salva was sentenced to three years in prison. He served 15 months of the sentence before being paroled, and has registered as a sex offender.

Career after release from prison
After being released from prison, Salva had a series of odd jobs, while trying to get hired as a film director, living off some financial support given to him by Coppola.

Seven years after Clownhouse, Salva made another film, The Nature of the Beast. In 1995, he directed the Disney-financed Powder. The subsequent media coverage of Salva's criminal history, and speculation as to why Disney would hire a convicted sex offender, ensured that Salva would not make another film until 1999's Rites of Passage.

Salva wrote and directed the horror film Jeepers Creepers (2001) and its sequel Jeepers Creepers II (2003).

In 2006, he directed Peaceful Warrior, which opened up to mixed reviews. Salva has plans to direct Rosewood Lane in 2010, a thriller starring Gina Philips and Ray Wise, and Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral, the third film in the popular Jeepers Creepers franchise.

Personal life
He currently resides on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

 * 2011: Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral
 * 2006: Peaceful Warrior
 * 2003: Jeepers Creepers II
 * 2001: Jeepers Creepers
 * 1999: Rites of Passage
 * 1995: The Nature of the Beast
 * 1995: Powder
 * 1989: Clownhouse
 * 1986: Something in the Basement