River Gallo

they/them
River Gallo stares at the camera over their shoulder with their arms crossed. River is a brown-skinned Salvadorian-American with curly shoulder-length hair. They wear a summer outfit, consisting of a tank top and shorts.

River Gallo stares at the camera over their shoulder with their arms crossed. River is a brown-skinned Salvadorian-American with curly shoulder-length hair. They wear a summer outfit, consisting of a tank top and shorts.

Job title
filmmaker   actor   activist   writer   model  
Identity categories
Click for help Learn more about these categories
intersex   Non-binary   queer   Brown   Salvadoran-American  
Places of practice

Los Angeles, California, United States of America

New York City, New York, United States of America

Images
River Gallo stares at the camera over their shoulder with their arms crossed. River is a brown-skinned Salvadorian-American with curly shoulder-length hair. They wear a summer outfit, consisting of a tank top and shorts.
Ponyboi (River Gallo) drives a truck amd smiles with the sun shining on their face. Their left hand is on the steering wheel with blue nails and black fingerless gloves. They have long brown curly hair, light brown skin, and are wearing a beige cowboy hat, gold hoop earrings, and a black leather jacket.
Closeup of Ponyboi (River Gallo) receiving a tattoo of a trotting pony on the inside of their lip. The title appears in italicized turquoise neon in the bottom right corner.
Closeup of Ponyboi (River Gallo) in profile, looking into the camera, their face lit red by a neon sign in the background reading "OPEN 24 HRS". The title, cast and critic quotes in the bottom left corner appear in neon purple and blue.
Metadata
Biography

RIVER GALLO (they/them) is a GLAAD award-winning Salvadoran-American filmmaker, actor, writer, model and intersex activist from New Jersey. They are a recipient of the 2019 GLAAD Media Rising Star Award, the 2020 Ryan Murphy HALF Initiative for television directing, a 2021 Berlinale Talent fellow, and was selected as part of the inaugural Sundance Institute Trans Possibilities Intensive. River’s work explores the dynamics of personal and confessionary storytelling, and media's ability to transcend human consciousness via re-envisioning underrepresented narratives.

Ponyboi which they wrote, starred in, and co-directed with Sadé Clacken Joseph premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival where it was named one of the “Five not to be missed short films” by Forbes. Ponyboi is the first narrative film created by and starring an out intersex person in cinema history. Executive produced by Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson.

River has collaborated and modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch, Birchbox Beauty, Maison Margiela, and made their New York Fashion Week debut walking for Chromat’s FW2021 show. They were named one of the “Most Exciting Queer People to Follow” by Out Magazine, PAPER Magazine’s list of “100 People Taking Over 2019”, and were the cover star of the 2019 Fall/Winter issue UK Hunger Magazine shot by RANKIN. They are currently developing Ponyboi as a feature film.

River received their BFA in Drama at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Experimental Theatre Wing and their MFA In Film/Tv Production from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. They are based in Los Angeles and New York.

River is represented by CAA, Management 360, and We Speak Models.

River Gallo. “About.” Accessed July 11, 2022. https://www.rivergallo.com/about.
Filmography
Has received funding from