Jake Graf

Jake Graf is an English actor, screenwriter, director, and transgender rights activist. Graf specialises in short films dealing with transgender issues in an effort to normalize queer and trans experiences to a wider, more mainstream audience.[1] Many of Graf’s films emphasise the daily lived experiences of trans men.

Career

Graf's first work within the industry was a screenplay dealing with his experiences in making a female to male transition.[2]

In 2015, Graf was invited to visit the White House to take part in a Q&A with president Barack Obama.[3] 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.[4] In 2015, Graf was one of 101 people nominated for a Rainbow Award, which recognizes prominent LGBT+ people in Britain. The nomination acknowledges Graf’s work in raising awareness of trans and queer issues through film.[5]

In October 2021, Graf appeared in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors as Olly Brockhurst.[6]

Personal life

According to Graf, he was vocal from a young age about his knowledge of being a boy despite being raised as a girl. As a child, he felt isolated and reclusive because he felt he was missing parts that other boys had. Around the age of puberty, Graf learned to keep these feelings to himself.[7] He began his gender transition when he was 28 years old.[7][4] This process would serve as the inspiration for Graf's first short film, X-Why.

Jake and Hannah Graf announced their engagement in 2017[8] and they married the following year.[9] Hannah was previously an engineer in the British Army and the highest ranking transgender officer;[10] the couple are also transgender rights activists.[11] Having previously expressed interest in having children, likely through surrogacy,[8] they had a daughter on 16 April 2020.[11]

Filmography

Films

X-WHY (2011)

X-WHY, directed and produced by Graf in 2011, is about the natural changes that a young trans man goes through during his transition. The main character Sam, played by Graf, goes through emotional and physical changes as a result of his transition.[14] The film was selected to be shown at the 26th BFI London Film Festival in 2012 and was shortlisted for the Iris Prize in the same year.

Brace (2015)

Brace is a short trans-themed film written by Graf. The film is about the relationship between Adam, played by Graf, and Rocky, played by Harry Rundle. As the film progresses, the two men fall in love with each other. Throughout the film, Adam has a secret that he does not know if his partner will ever accept. The film makes it clear that both characters want to be accepted within the society which, to do so, they must accept themselves. The film was described as "a queer film festival favourite…" due to its subject matter.[15] It is loosely based on Graf's own experience of transitioning from female to male. [16]

Chance (2015)

In Chance, the protagonist Trevor begins to feel his life has no meaning after the death of his wife. He begins to feel very lonely within his everyday living until he meets up with someone who is going through the same emotions. Both of them share this similarity; they both start to relive their lives. Chance was directed and produced by Graf and was screened at 35 different film festivals.[3]

Dusk (2017)

Dusk is a 15 minute film about a man born in a female body in the 1950s who, due to societal pressures of the time, lives to old age as a woman. Graf was inspired to make the film Dusk when he received an e-mail from a trans woman who shared her experience of living as a gay man into her seventies.[3]

See also

References
  1. Shiel, J. (1 July 2017). "It seems like a lot of people don't even know trans men exist". Gay Times.
  2. "The New Current". The New Current. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  3. Bennett-Hall, Naomi. "Jake Graf - Paving the Way for Trans Visibility". LGBT History Month Magazine UK. Archived from the original on 8 February 2016.
  4. Hinde, N., Driscoll, B. (30 September 2015). "Jake Graf, Transgender Filmmaker And Cover Star, On Why Trans Men Need Greater Visibility In The Media". The Huffington Post UK.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. Morrison, S. (15 November 2015). "Rainbow List 2015: 1 to 101". The Independent.
  6. Lamacraft, Tess. "'Doctors' spoilers: Daniel Granger is angry with Al". What to Watch. (Future plc). Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  7. "Interview: Jake Graf talks Short Films and Trans Representation". FilmDoo. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  8. Sandeman, G. (27 September 2017). "Transgender Army Captain to Marry Danish Girl Actor". The Times. London, England.
  9. Jackman, Josh (27 March 2018). "Highest-ranking trans soldier marries actor in Disney wedding". PinkNews. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  10. Gilmour, A. (16 November 2016). "Hannah Winterbourne, Britain's highest ranking transgender soldier". The Financial Times.
  11. Dorking, Marie Claire (17 April 2020). "Transgender activists Hannah and Jake Graf welcome first baby via surrogate: 'We're in love'". Yahoo Style UK. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  12. Ebershoff, David (4 February 2020). "The Trans Actors Challenging Outmoded Ideas of Masculinity". T. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  13. Fonseca, Sarah (21 September 2018). "This Trans Actor Plays a Cisgender Character in New Film 'Colette'". them. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  14. "British Council Film: Jake Graf". film.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  15. Hoff, Victor. "Interview: Jake Graf". LGBT Weekly. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  16. "Interview with sharp dressed Transgender Filmmaker Jake Graf". DapperQ: Transgressing Men's Fashion. 15 October 2015.
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