Victor Nuñez

Victor Nuñez (born 1945) is a film director, professor at the Florida State University College of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts, and a founding member of the Independent Feature Project. He is best known for directing Ulee's Gold, a critically acclaimed movie starring Jessica Biel and Peter Fonda. Nuñez grew up in Peru and Tallahassee, Florida. He received his undergraduate degree from Antioch College and an MFA in film directing from the UCLA Film School. He spent the beginning of his career directing low-budget, non-"Hollywood" projects. In the 1970s he made three fictional shorts, "Taking Care of Mother Baldwin" (1970), "Charly Benson's Return to the Sea" (1972), and "A Circle in the Fire" (1974). Nuñez made his feature debut in 1979 with the film Gal Young 'Un. It was another six years before his next film A Flash of Green, his first film to employ big-name actors. In 1993 he directed Ruby in Paradise, which featured actress Ashley Judd in her first leading role. This was followed by his 1997 film, Ulee's Gold, starring Peter Fonda. He lives outside Panama City Beach, Florida, the setting of most of his films.