about

Sovereign Syre is a writer, comedian, internationally published poet (not a joke), podcaster (totally a joke), model, vernacular historian, accidental actress, advocate, and former adult industry performer. Born in a rural town in the part of California that isn’t on the beach or funded by the illuminati, she was a gifted student (which means she is now a bisexual with ADHD and attachment issues), went to a magnet school for students inclined toward math and science where she learned computer programming (lolz), then went on to a performing arts high school on a ballet scholarship before hitting puberty, getting cursed with a shifting center of gravity, and switching over to playwrighting. She graduated early (because she’s very smart and cool) and went on to college double majoring in Sociology and English Literature and grad school for creative writing with an emphasis on poetry and creative non-fiction,

After entering the job market during the 2008 economic crash and the rise of internet journalism, she decided that instead of writing 1200 word essays for $50 bucks a pop, she’d try her hand at anything less humiliating, so she moved to Manhattan and became a model (lulz). The first person to shoot her was George Pitts, the founding editor of Vibe magazine which led to her getting shot by the likes of Andrew Einhorn, Ken Lichtenwalter, Keith Major, Richard Avery, Ken Penn, Allan Amato, Chris Cuffaro, Clayton Cubbit, and Nathan Appel, earning the moniker “The Face” for her Classic Hollywood face and willingness to get naked.

In 2011, Syre was scouted by feminist porn director Nica Noelle, and moved to Los Angeles to be the exclusive star of Girl Candy films, an all girl film studio and was nominated for All Girl Performer of the Year in 2014. She went on to work heavily with industry maverick Dana Vespoli, starring in many of her features and frequently co writing the scenes in which she performed. In 2015, Vespoli and Syre collaborated on the highly controversial and critically praised Hollywood Babylon, the first film in which Syre worked with a male co-star.

Syre was an early adopter of social media, and her online presence and her use of Twitter as a means of joke writing and political pondering got her written up by Hustler, Playboy, GQ Italia, Vogue Italia, Cosmopolitan, and Vice, and caught the attention of Wisecrack, one of the most popular cultural commentary channels on YouTube.

In 2015, Syre and VR tech pioneer Ela Darling, wrote and starred in Boss Bitches of History for Wisecrack, a web series aimed at making unsung women in history accessible to a modern audience, a project she continued as a rebranded podcast with sex worker advocate and journalist Siouxsie Q James, ILL REPUTE! which debuted in the top 200 on iTunes (which is way harder than it sounds).

From 2014-2018 Syre hosted the OBSRVTNS podcast, interviewing comedians, writers, scientists, academics, actors, and directors about “very serious topics.” Notable episodes included interviewing Dave Foley of Kids In The Hall about American politics, Spencer Wells, the National Geographic Explorer in Residence that gathered the DNA used by Ancestry.com and 23andMe, about the meaning of race, and Daniel Knauf, the creator of Carnivale, about the meaning of narrative in everyday life.

Syre is also a stand up comedian, starting with storytelling shows for the RISK! podcast in 2015. She went on to perform at The Comedy Stor, The Stand, The Creek and Cave, The Funny Bone, The Laugh Factory, and various indie venues. By 2016 she’d opened for Marc Maron and Big Jay Oakerson, and was producing and hosting the Cobra Juice Variety Show out of the Steve Allen Theater in Los Feliz, working alongside Margaret Cho, Kyle Kinane, Laurie Kilmartin, Jackie Kashian, Robin Tran, Theo Von, and drag legends like Vicky Vox. In 2017, Syre and fellow comic Alia Janine embarked on a cross country tour, renting out theaters and selling their own tickets.

More recently Syre completed the 100 Poems in Solitude Project, writing a poem a day, using a different poetry form each day, documenting the experience of quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic which is currently being edited for publication. She is currently a regular contributor to Mel Magazine, writing on topics related to sex work and masculinity.

She is also the co-creator and co-writer for History Falls Apart, alongside Ryan Byrne, producing satirical short films across social media focused on a revisionist interpretation of ancient history, modernity, politics, and social justice.

Photograph by Kungfu Breakfast