Silas Howard


Silas Howard is an American film and television director, writer, and actor. His first feature film By Hook or by Crook co-directed with Harry Dodge is a seminal trans masc feature. Howard earned an MFA in directing at UCLA and is a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow. He began directing episodes during the second season of Transparent, making him the show's first trans director.
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Early life

Howard grew up in Vermont. He arrived in San Francisco in the early 1990s. Howard played guitar for Tribe 8, a queer punk rock band originating in the San Francisco area. In San Francisco, he and Harry Dodge, a former band member, opened Red Dora's Bearded Lady Truckstop Café, where artists displayed their art.

Career

Howard was a founding member of queercore band Tribe 8, and toured with the group across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. He was also cofounder of Red Dora's Bearded Lady Truckstop Café, a San Francisco coffeeshop that doubled as a gallery and performance space.
Howard co-wrote, co-directed, and co-stars with artist Harry Dodge in the 2001 feature film By Hook or by Crook. The plot follows two unlikely friends who commit petty crimes as they search for a path to understanding themselves and the outside world. "We totally home-schooled it, we made this feature film without having made a short or anything, because we're like, we have the urgent need to tell this story, to have these different faces on the screen." Howard later earned an MFA in directing at UCLA in 2008. He currently is a visiting lecturer at Cornell University. Twenty years after its release, the film has had a resurgence with a limited run at Alamo Draft House, as well as screenings at Outfest, Newfest, BFI, Metrograph and more. The film was also released on The Criterion Channel and widely lauded as a seminal trans masc film.
Howard was the first trans director for Transparent. The creator Joey Soloway wanted trans directors to tell their own stories. He directed the episodes "Bulnerable", "When the Battle Is Over", and "Just the Facts". In September 2017's article in LGBT Weekly, one writer speaks of Howard as:
Howard's essays have been published in several anthologies including Zosia Mamet's My First Popsicle, Without a Net, edited by Michelle Tea and Live Through This, edited by Sabrina Chap. Howard wrote and performed with the spoken-word series, Sister Spit and toured a one-man show Thank you for Being Urgent about the real-life heartbreak of almost having his feature film about Billy Tipton greenlit and then watching it fall through the cracks.
Howard's third feature film A Kid Like Jake starring Claire Danes, Jim Parsons, Octavia Spencer and Transparent actress Amy Landecker premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. And his most recent feature, Darby and the Dead, a teen comedy about grief and friendship between girls premiered on Hulu.
In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, sparking the start of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, Queerty named him one of the Pride50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people."

Personal life

Howard married writer and filmmaker Naz Riahi in 2023. He lives in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Director

Quantum Leap Darby and the Dead A League of Their Own Grand Army Everything's Gonna Be Okay Dickinson The Affair Tales of the City - High Maintenance Pose Step Up: High Water A Kid Like Jake - More Than T This Is Us - The Fosters Faking It - Transparent - Sticks and Stones - Golden Age of Hustlers - Hudson Valley Ballers - Valencia: The Movie/S - Sunset Stories - 2012 Brainstorm - 2009 Blink - 2007 How Do I Say This? - Zero to Hero - What I Love About Dying - Frozen Smile - By Hook or by Crook - 2001

Writer

Sticks and Stones - 2014 Blink - 2009 How Do I Say This? 2007 Zero to Hero - 2006 Frozen Smile - 2005 By Hook or by Crook - 2001

Actor

Happy Birthday, Marsha! - Stonewall Manager Don't Mess with Texas - Al The Perfect Ones - Punk Gang Member By Hook or by Crook - Shy Blue Diary - Narrator

Awards and nominations

Won

Nominated