Jill Soloway
Image by Getty Images
Jill Soloway, 50, is no new- comer to the entertainment industry. From 2002 to 2005 the Chicago-born director and screenwriter wrote and later co-executive produced the acclaimed HBO series “Six Feet Under.” She wrote and directed the 2013 movie “Afternoon Delight,” about an unhappy mother who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a 19-year-old sex worker, which won Soloway the best directing award at the Sundance Film Festival. She also co-created the curated video network wifey.tv.
But it took Soloway’s latest series, “Transparent,” to make her into a household name. In the series, which was produced by Amazon Studios, she depicts the joys and sorrows of a Jewish family in Los Angeles whose father, played by Jeffrey Tambor, comes out as a transgender woman.
Although the portrayal brought both praise and criticism from the transgender community, for Soloway the subject was a personal one. In 2011, just a few years before she made the show, her father, Harry J. Soloway, came out as transgender. With “Transparent,” Soloway has helped bring transgender issues to the forefront of the national conversation about gender and sexuality, and she has done it within a well-drawn Jewish context. This year she received five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes, including one for Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy. “The Skinny,” a miniseries Soloway executive produced, will premiere in January, and season 2 of “Transparent” is scheduled to begin in December.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
