Jake Graf is an English actor, screenwriter, director, and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

rights activist. Graf specializes in short films dealing with transgender issues in an effort to normalize

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

and trans experiences to a wider, more mainstream audience. Many of Graf's films emphasize the daily lived experiences of trans men.

Career

Graf's first work within the industry was a screenplay dealing with his experiences as a

trans man A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that incl ...

in making a

female-to-male A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that incl ...

transition. In 2015, Graf visited the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

to take part in a Q&A and viewing of the film ''

The Danish Girl ''The Danish Girl'' is a novel by American writer David Ebershoff, published in 2000 by the Viking Press in the United States and Allen & Unwin in Australia. Summary The novel is a fictionalized account of the life of Lili Elbe, one of the fir ...

'' with U.S. president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

. That year, he became the first trans man to appear on the cover of '' QX'' magazine and, in the following year, was featured on the covers of ''GNI'', ''LGBT Weekly'', and ''FTM Magazine''. In 2015, Graf was one of 101 people nominated for a Rainbow Award, which recognizes prominent

LGBT+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is an ...

people in Britain. The nomination acknowledges Graf's work in raising awareness of trans and queer issues through film. Alongside nominations for his work, Jake Graf has been included in judge positions for festivals and award ceremonies. In 2019, Graf took a chair in the

Iris Prize The Iris Prize, established in by Berwyn Rowlands of The Festivals Company, is an international LGBT film prize and festival which is open to any film which is by, for, about or of interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex au ...

Jury, an LGBTQ+ Film Festival. Three years later, Graf also became a judge in the 2022

National Diversity Awards The National Diversity Awards is an awards ceremony which honours positive role models, entrepreneurs and community organisations across several different strands within the equality and diversity sector. It is held annually in various venues ac ...

Personal life

From the young age of two, Graf knew that he was different from other kids. As a young child he was very vocal about his feelings and tried telling anyone who would listen that he was a boy. Graf spent much of his youth "trying my best just to ‘pass' as male" He has repeatedly talked about the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in the media. Graf believed he "was the only person in the world that felt like he did" and did not know trans men existed until he was nearly 16. This lack of representation that he experienced as a young person made him feel "lonely and isolated". He decided to start transitioning in 2008 at the age of 28. With the emotional and financial support of his mother, Graf started hormone treatment. Graf is married to Hannah Winterbourne. The couple went on their date on 30 December 2015 after being introduced by a mutual friend. After three years of dating and receiving Hannah's father's blessing, Graf proposed in New York in September 2017. Their wedding took place on 23 March 2018 at Chelsea Old Town Hall in London. Approximately six years after starting transitioning, Graf decided to have his eggs frozen so that he would have the opportunity of having children in the future. In April 2020, their daughter Millie was born via surrogate. Two years later, the couple announced the birth of their second child on 1 June 2022.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and Nominations

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graf, Jake Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Transgender male writers English film directors LGBT film directors British transgender writers 21st-century English male actors 21st-century English writers English LGBT writers English male screenwriters British LGBT screenwriters English LGBT rights activists Transgender rights activists 21st-century British screenwriters 21st-century English male writers Transgender screenwriters