Editing Blake Edwards

{{Infobox|Name=Blake Geoffrey Edwards
|Image = blakeedwards.png
|Position = House Representative
|Term-Length = 3 January 2011 - Present
|Constituency = [[New York 16]]
|Predecessor = Kylie Beaverhausen
|Successor = ''incumbent''
|Date-of-Birth = 3 August 1983
|Place-of-Birth = Montréal, Québec; Canada
|Party = [[National Equality Party|Nat'l Equality]] & [[Democratic Party|Democratic]]<br>''Supported by'' Working Families
|Spouse = ''single''
|Religion = Buddhist
|Party-Colour = teal}}

'''Blake Edwards''' (born August 3, 1983) is [[House of Representatives|House Representative]] for the sixteenth congressional district of New York, which contains parts of the Bronx.  He is also a former pornographic and Academy Award nominated independent film director, most well known for the 2005 film ''[[New York Rain]]''.  He is the owner of a gay-for-pay studio, Slippery Dick Films.



== Childhood & Education ==

Blake was born in Montréal, Québec to Charles Edwards, a milkman, and Hélène Levesque, a CBC journalist.  He was raised in Montréal for his whole childhood, giving him fluency in both French and English.  His father became a Parti Québécois MNA in the 1994 Québec provincial election.  Three years later, his mother was elected to be a Bloc Québécois MP in the 1997 Canadian general election.  He helped his parents in both elections and learned the value of democracy and the election process.

Blake was accepted to Phillips Academy Andover in 1998 and graduated in 2002.  During his time in the United States, he became entranced by the famous Big Apple and drove him to become a film director.  He was the Director for the school's 2002 rendition of Shakespeare's ''Macbeth''.  After graduating from Andover, Blake chose to not go to college, but he instead moved to New York with a few close friends and started his directing career.

== Film Career ==

Blake splashed into the pornographic film world with is amateur gay video ''The Boy Boat'', which was met with great critical success, but did not seem to produce many profits.  He was nominated for a GayVN, the most prostigious gay pornographic film award.  He then directed a remake of the popular ''Shaving Ryan's Privates''.  His sophmore film had a reverse effect, giving him more identity in the pornographic film community while leaving some to wonder if his first was to be his best.

In mid-2003, Blake decided to try his way with more mainstream films, directing a 2003 rendition of ''Casablanca''.  It went straight to video, and Blake returned to pornographic films.  He co-wrote and directed the bisexual ''A Midsummer's Wetdream'', which met even greater critical and popular success than any of his previous films.  He was nominated and won a series of awards, including a nomination of an AVN award, the most well-known pornographic film awards event.  He then was asked to try straight pornographic film directing and attempted such in the third installment of the ''Caitlin's Adventure'' series.  It was considered the worst of his works.

Blake left the pornographic film industry in 2004 and again tried his ways with mainstream film.  He directed the comedy ''Third Time's a Charm'', which was his first film to hit theaters.  It was met with mediocre success for independent films, but Blake was already working on another project with a few high school buddies, ''New York Rain''.  The film was released in all 50 states and was a sleeper hit, grossing in the millions.  He was met with great acclaim, winning an Independent Spirit Award and garnishing Golden Globe and Oscar nominations.  After ''New York Rain'', he decided to quit film directing and went to producing.

Blake established Slippery Dick Films in Manhattan in 2005, which has been a great success.  So far, they have created gay classics like ''Robert's Men'' (2006), ''Manhattan is my Beat'' (2008), and ''Fabulous'' (2009).

=== Filmography & Awards ===

* ''The Boy Boat'' (2002)
** GayVN Nominee: Best Director
* ''Shaving Ryan's Privates'' (2003)
* ''Casablanca'' (2003)
* ''A Midsummer's Wetdream'' (2003)
** AVN Nominee: Best Director, Film Category
** GayVN Winner: Best Director
* ''Caitlin's Adventure: Pussy Paradise'' (2004)
* ''Third Time's a Charm'' (2004)
* ''[[New York Rain]]'' (2005)
** Independent Spirit Winner: Best Director
** Golden Globe Nominee: Best Director
** Academy Award Nominee: Best Director

== Political Career ==

[[Image:Blakecampaign.jpg|right|Blake campaigning]]Blake had always given his spare time to political causes and was active with the local Democratic and National Equality associations.  In 2010, the National Equality Party asked Blake to run, using his fame as a Director to be a star candidate.  He ran, earning the endorsement of the Working Families Party.  Blake was too late to officially run in the Democratic Primary for the NY16 House Race, which was fielding a group of 20 candidates to replace the out-going Kylie Beaverhausen, but Blake ran a campaign as a write-in candidate.  He won the primary and the support of the Democrats.  He went on to get elected in a complete landslide.

== Elections Results ==

{{Elect|Edwards1}}
'''New York 16th, 2010'''
|-style="background:#E9E9E9;" align="center"
!colspan="2"| Party
! Candidate
! Votes
! %
|-align="left"
| bgcolor="#008080"|
| [[National Equality Party|Nat'l Equality]]/[[Democratic Party|Dem]]
| '''Blake Edwards'''
| 56,124
| 95.3%
|-align="left"
| bgcolor="#CC0000"|
| [[Republican Party|Republican]]
| Roberto Gonzalez
| 2,759
| 4.7%
|-style="background:#E9E9E9;"
! align="right" colspan="3"|Total
! align="left"|58,883
! 
|}

== External Links ==

* [http://worldsimulations.com/USGS/index.php?showtopic=8279 Biography]
* [http://worldsimulations.com/USGS/index.php?showtopic=608&st=0#entry7693 Press Office]

{{Succession|before=Kylie Beaverhausen
|title=Representative for New York 16th
|years=2010 - Present
|after=incumbent}}
{{Succession|before=Sofia Coppola<br>for ''Lost in Translation''
|title=Independent Spirit Award for Best Director
|years=2005
|after=Ang Lee<br>for ''Brokeback Mountain''}}

[[Category:Biographies|Edwards, Blake]][[Category:National Equality|Edwards, Blake]][[Category:Representatives|Edwards, Blake]][[Category:LGBT Politicians|Edwards, Blake]]