Samuel looks for the tragedy in comedy and vice versa. His pilot for "The Secret World of Danny Lopez" was named a Writers Guild of America television comedy access project honoree but was also a drama winner at the New York Film Awards and a Content London International Drama Summit nominee for Best Pilot Script.
He won Best Screenplay at the London Independent Film Awards for "Elephant & Castle" and a G.L.A.A.D. nomination for the Showtime film "Bobbie’s Girl," which also garnered its star Bernadette Peters an Emmy nomination.
Episodic credits range from the CBS drama "Judging Amy" to Nickelodeon's "Shimmer and Shine." His play “If You Are Reading This” had a 2019 developmental production at Pacific Resident Theatre and a 2020 No Pants Theatre digital presentation. He adapted his non-fiction book "Mr. Confidential" for the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and his anthology "Uncommon Heroes" won a Stonewall Book Award from the American Library Association.
His life and writing reflect the wild intersections of modern life. He was born to an undocumented Mexican mother who passed as white, with a fake name; and a psychotic Jewish father who allegedly sold arms to the Palestinians in Egypt, where his family lived for a year when he was a kid. They traveled all over the world—occasionally on the lam—and lived in Cairo, Honolulu, Austin, Phoenix, Albuquerque, New York, Los Angeles, and Ft. Collins, Colorado.
Samuel also volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for foster children. He and husband Ronald Shore have been together for over 25 years. They are currently the hostages of three incorrigible dachshunds.
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