Skyler Cooper is an award-winning
filmmaker, actor and activist 

Skyler was recently voted one of Autostraddle’s 100 LGBTQ People You Should Know. Cooper is an influential transgender pioneer in the arts and has received critical acclaim for his gender-bending live and film performances. Currently Cooper is in development of his next film, Worthy of Survival. Cooper marked his directorial debut with Hero Mars, a beautifully cinematic and thought-provoking award-winning short film of which he also wrote, produced and starred. As an actor, Cooper received accolades for his revolutionary adaption playing Othello as a female commander. He has appeared in the films Elena Undone, The Owls and The Insomniacs, and on television in RuPaul’s Drag U.

Skyler trained in classical and contemporary theater for 3 years in San Francisco. He studied acting with Phillip Bennett, founder of The Bennett Theater Lab, and Amy Mueller. He then went on to begin an internship with California Shakespeare Company and rounded out his training with speech and vocal coaches at American Conservatory Theater.  

Cooper, a Gulf War veteran, practicing Buddhist and lover of tango, can often be found leading women and men at milongas in the Bay Area when not working on his next gender-ation film. 

A PERSONAL NOTE:

I’ve been gender neutral for most of my life and much of my work as an actor. I’ve accepted both “He” and “She” pronouns in the world for a very long time. Being gender neutral has allowed me to develop my craft to date. As I launch my website as a transgender person, I identify as “He” and with masculine pronouns. It is not possible to separate my work in the past as an actor from my current work as a writer, director, producer today—I proudly build on it.

Being transgender is a reflective journey for me. It is time for me to make all of me (mind, body, and spirit) congruent with my world. I offer deep appreciation to all of you who supported me throughout the years no matter how I identified and thank all of you who are just now coming along for the ride. 

My artistic endeavors have inspired an incredible course; one of self-awareness, self-love and ongoing self-discovery. My life experience has sharpened my gift to relate to many different people as an actor, producer, director and human. I am ready to take the stage, the screen and the world as the next gender-ation filmmaker.

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