Shawna Virago Bio
Shawna Virago is celebrated as a trans pioneer in music, filmmaking and activism. Miss Virago is a roots/rock songwriter whose music twists together punk roots rock and insurgent country, creating anthems for a new generation. Her lyrics dig deep at police brutality, the economic marginalization of transgender people and life lived on the sweet continuum of being trans. Miss Virago is one part poetess, one part ice queen and one part honky-tonk glamour girl. Nevertheless, she is own her own genre.
Shawna Virago was called "the sex symbol laureate of the burgeoning West Coast trans rock music scene" in Eros magazine. Ms. Virago is also director of TrannyFest, a film festival dedicated to supporting work made by and for transgender and genderqueer people She is on the Fresh Meat advisory board. She is a founding member of TransAction, the police accountability group and she was the first trans woman to serve on the board of directors for San Francisco Woman Against Rape (SFWAR). She has also served on the Board of Directors for the Transgender Law Center and was an advisory board member for the Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP). She was also the first trans woman ever chosen by the community to be a SF Pride Grand Marshal.
Miss Virago has directed three films: Almost Human, Shut Up! Josephine, and Hustle. All her films have screened locally at Festivals including Frameline and TrannyFest, as well as at Festivals throughout the US, Canada and Europe. Ms. Virago has appeared in the film The Believers , directed by Todd Holland.
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