Savannah Knoop | |
|---|---|
 Savannah Knoop | |
| Born | 1981 (age 41–42) San Francisco, California, United States |
| Education | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Known for | Sculpture, film, writing |
Savannah Knoop (born 1981) is an American artist and filmmaker. [1] From 1999 to 2005, Knoop performed the public role of literary hoax JT Leroy.
Knoop grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, born to artist and acupuncturist Sharon Hennessey, and documentary filmmaker and cinematographer, John Knoop. [2] Knoop was the youngest of five half siblings. [2] Knoop attended high school at Westover, an all girls boarding school in Connecticut. From 1999 to 2001, Knoop attended City College of San Francisco.
In 1999 writer Laura Albert, then-partner of Knoop's brother, asked Knoop to play her fictional persona JT LeRoy. Knoop embodied JT LeRoy in all public appearances for the next six years. After the literary scandal was unveiled in the NY Times in 2005, Seven Stories Press published Knoop's memoir in 2007 titled Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT LeRoy cataloguing their experiences of playing their sister-in-law's writing persona and avatar JT LeRoy. [2] With director Justin Kelly, they adapted it into the feature-length film JT Leroy , starring Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, Jim Sturgess, and Diane Kruger, released by Universal Pictures in April 2019. [3]
In 2001, Knoop founded the clothing line Tinc [2] with Parachati Pattajotti, creative partner, architect and restaurateur. In 2006, Knoop's sister Hennessey Knoop joined as head of sales for their company. Tinc ran until 2009 and sold to stores such as Modern Appealing Clothing and Takashimaya. After folding Tinc, Knoop moved to New York. They finished their bachelor's degree in the fall of 2013 at CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies under the mentorship of Vito Acconci. [4] In 2014 they went on to their MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University: Sculpture + Extended Media. [5] Movement is an essential part of Knoop's practice. Knoop has studied dance and martial arts for over twenty years. Knoop studies Brazilian jiu-jitsu under the tutelage of Marcelo Garcia in New York.
Knoop, who identifies as gender non-conforming, [6] has shown and performed at the Whitney, [7] MoMA, [8] the ICA Philadelphia, the Leslie-Lohman Museum, [9] Movement Research, [10] and Essex Flowers gallery. [11] They have collaborated and performed live with artists such as Simone Forti, [12] A.K. Burns, [13] Math Bass and Lauren Davis Fisher, [14] Gordon Hall, [15] Geo Wyeth, [16] Nica Ross, Nicole Killian, Jules Gimbrone, [17] Niv Acosta, Elizabeth Orr, Robert Wilson, and Laura Albert. From 2010 to 2016 they threw the party, WOAHMONE, with Nica Ross and Nathann Carerra.
The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, The CUNY Graduate Center is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity". The school is situated in the landmark B. Altman and Company Building at 365 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, opposite the Empire State Building. The CUNY Graduate Center has 4,600 students, 31 doctoral programs, 14 master's programs, and 30 research centers and institutes. A core faculty of approximately 140 is supplemented by over 1,800 additional faculty members from CUNY's eleven senior colleges and New York City's cultural and scientific institutions.
Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, or simply JT LeRoy is a literary persona created in the 1990s by American writer Laura Albert. LeRoy was presented as the author of three books of fiction, which were purportedly semi-autobiographical accounts by a teenage boy of his experiences of poverty, drug use, and emotional and sexual abuse in his childhood and adolescence from rural West Virginia to California. Albert wrote these works, and communicated with people in the persona of LeRoy via phone and e-mail. Following the release of the first novel Sarah, Albert's sibling-in-law Savannah Knoop began to make public appearances as the supposed writer. The works attracted considerable literary and celebrity attention, and the authenticity of LeRoy has been a subject of debate, even as details of the creation came to light in the 2000s.
Laura Victoria Albert is an American author who invented the literary persona JT LeRoy, whom Albert described as an "avatar." She published various works of purportedly autobiographical fiction under the LeRoy name before being revealed as the true author. Albert has also used the aliases Emily Frasier and Speedie, and published other works as Laura Victoria and Gluttenberg. After the true authorship was revealed, Albert was sued for fraud for having signed a film-option contract as the fictitious LeRoy; a jury found against her. The damages to be paid to the film company were settled out of court.
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Justin Kelly is an American film director, screenwriter and film editor. He came to prominence as director and writer of Sundance Film Festival 2015 select I Am Michael, starring James Franco and Zachary Quinto. He then wrote and directed King Cobra, which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival starring Christian Slater and James Franco, followed by Sony Pictures 2018 release Welcome the Stranger starring Riley Keough and Caleb Landry Jones, and most recently JT LeRoy (2018) starring Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern.
JT LeRoy is a 2018 biographical drama film directed by Justin Kelly based on the memoir Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy by Savannah Knoop. It stars Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Diane Kruger, James Jagger, Dave Brown, Jim Sturgess and Courtney Love.
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